A Virginia man is facing charges after calling WBTV reporter Steve Crump a racial slur, then trying to block the Charlotte CBS affiliate’s crew from driving away in the station news van.
Crump was in Charleston, S.C. reporting on Hurricane Matthew when Brian Eybers started recording him on his iPad. “Then he starts off saying, ‘There’s a black guy walking around here, no he’s a slave, no he’s the n-word.’” said Crump.
“Crump, 59, the great-great grandson of Kentucky slaves who has produced hours of specials for public TV about civil rights in addition to his reporting work for Channel 3, walked up to Eybers and asked him what he’d just said,” reports the Charlotte Observer.
Eybers and Crump got into an argument about constitutional rights and religion before Eybers tried to block both the reporter and WBTV photojournalist Devin Futrelle from driving away. Futrelle got the whole thing on camera.
Eybers has been charged with disorderly conduct and possession of drug paraphernalia.
[newsblues]John Tecklenburg, the mayor of Charleston, contacted Crump later the day of the incident to apologize on behalf of the city. Tecklenburg was already familiar with what happened – it occurred in front of his mother’s house in the 100 block of Broad Street.
Crump said the site of the confrontation also was only about 10 blocks from Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, better known as Mother Emanuel, where nine people were shot to death in a racial killing in 2015. Crump covered that attack and was sent back by WBTV in June to cover the one-year anniversary.
“Yet you still have this kind of mentality being carried out where the wounds are very fresh and very real,” said Crump.
In 2013, Crump was awarded the Martin Luther King Jr. Medallion, which honors a Charlottean who has worked to promote racial equality and social justice. This year, Crump was honored in Washington as journalist of the year by the National Association of Black Journalists.
“You could safely call Steve the leading civil rights reporter in town with his documentaries and daily stories,” Milligan said.