Racial tensions are increasingly becoming a concern as the search for a killer in the Prince George’s County jail narrows to three corrections officers, one white and two black.
“I hope [his race] doesn’t make it more difficult for him … but the case could have racial implications simply because he’s white,” said Darrell Robinson, the attorney for Russell Hardesty, one of three corrections officers who likely had a view of suspected police-killer Ronnie White’s cell the morning he was strangled. The other two officers have been identified as Anthony McIntosh and Ramon Davis, both black.
White, 19, a black man, died on June 29, less than 48 hours after he was charged with running down and killing white police Cpl. Richard Findley.
On the Sunday morning that White was found dead in his solitary cell, Hardesty was working in a control booth that had an obstructed view of White’s cell while McIntosh and Davis patrolled the floor and brought White his meals.
Zalee Harris, a founding member of the Greater Beltway Coalition, a group seeking to start a new branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in Prince George’s County, agreed with Robinson that Hardesty’s race will likely make life more difficult for him. She noted, however, “it doesn’t make him guilty. He should have the right to go through the judicial process just like Ronnie White had the right.”
Harris said racial tensions in the Laurel community where Findley was killed have long been an issue and “we’re now close to igniting a combustible situation.” She called on the county’s leadership to work with the community to dispel the angst.
But for Bobby Henry Jr., the lawyer for White’s family, the issue isn’t about black or white, “it’s about right and wrong,” he said.
“It doesn’t matter who took his life and it doesn’t mitigate the loss of life,” Henry said.
For Harris there’s also another issue that highlights the difference between the crime White allegedly committed and the men or women who were responsible for White’s death.
“Mr. White didn’t wake up and say ‘I’m going to rob a car and kill a cop’ … but on Sunday morning some people woke up and conspired to commit murder,” Harris said.
State and federal investigators continue to question all employees in the department of corrections in what county officials have said could be a long and complicated case.
