The mother of a Lexington Catholic High School Student claims her son was threatened and called racial slurs by a classmate and Lexington Police are investigating.
The story first appeared on a website called Key News Journal and it quickly spread on social media Thursday morning. In the article, Denisha Vinegar says she was looking at messages on her son DaMarco’s Macbook and found messages to her son that were filled with racial slurs and one threatened his life. One allegedly from a fellow football player read “Damarco, I’m gonna lynch you.”
Vinegar went to Lexington Police and the department has confirmed that a complaint has been filed. A statement from spokeswoman Brenna Angel reads
"Police are investigating a criminal complaint filed by the mother of a Lexington Catholic High School student. Several of you have asked if this is a 'hate crime.' Technically, Police do not have the authority/jurisdiction to classify an act as a 'hate crime.' That is up to the court to determine if an act is bias motivated. We are investigating possible terroristic threatening and harassing communications. The investigation is ongoing, and at this point no one has been charged."
We have filed an open records request for more information and have reached out to Vinegar and the school for comment. So far we’ve not had responses to our requests for interviews.
Update 4:52 PM: A new statement from police spokesperson Brenna Angel reads: "The investigation involving communications between two juveniles is ongoing. The Lexington Police Department has spoken with leadership from the local chapter of the NAACP and the parties involved. We are investigating possible charges of Harassing Communications and Terroristic Threatening. These charges do appear to have racial bias undertones."