A New Boston, Texas, man was sentenced this month to six years in prison for punching an African American boy because of his race.
Charles Mitchell “Mitch” Patton, 27, pleaded guilty to injury to a child for a July 28, 2019, attack of a 14-year-old on a public street in New Boston.
According to a probable cause affidavit, a 14-year-old African American boy was walking down the street where he lives in New Boston on the afternoon of July 28, 2019, when the driver of a black Dodge Ram truck pulled to the side of the road. The white man, identified as Patton, began walking toward the boy as he shouted racial slurs and removed his shirt, revealing a tattoo of a swastika on his chest.
Patton told the boy his race wasn’t welcome before striking him in the face with a closed fist. The boy reported that Patton’s first swing missed him but he was hit when Patton swung a second time. Two other white men who were passengers in Patton’s truck got out and pulled Patton away from the boy.
The boy’s father called New Boston police. The boy told officers he does not know Patton and had never met him.
The Bowie County District Attorney’s Office filed a hate crime enhancement in the case.
Patton also pleaded guilty to unrelated charges of marijuana possession and possessing a cell phone in the Bowie County jail.
