A 61-year-old Milwaukee man was charged with a hate crime after allegedly burning an immigrant with battery acid following a parking dispute.
Clifton Blackwell was arrested for tossing battery acid in the face of Mahud Villalaz, a United States citizen, leaving him with second-degree burns.
Blackwell and Villalaz had gotten in an argument over a parking spot when Blackwell started telling Villalaz to “get out of this country” and called him “illegal.”
Villalaz, 42, has lived in the U.S. for 19 years after moving from Peru, a point he made clear to Blackwell.
“I think I pissed him off because I told him, ‘This is my country. This isn’t your country. Everybody came from somewhere else here,'” Villalaz said.
Because of the anti-immigrant remarks, Blackwell was charged with a hate crime in addition to charges of first-degree reckless injury and use of a dangerous weapon.
If he is found guilty, he faces up to 25 years in prison with $100,000 in fines.
