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White Teen Charged With Hate Crime
LARGO - A white teenager slipped a hangman's noose around the neck of a black teenager Wednesday afternoon at a Wendy's restaurant, then rushed outside loudly professing his hatred of blacks, punctuating his remark with a racial epithet, Largo police said.
Louis John Giannola, 19, of 3022 Mazzie Drive, Zephyrhills, was arrested and charged with battery while committing a hate crime. He was being held at Pinellas County Jail on Thursday with bail set at $10,000.
Also charged was a 16-year-old Pinellas County girl who had promised to give Giannola $10 if he slipped the noose around the neck of the black youth at the Wendy's north of Largo High School, patrol Officer George Walters said.
The girl was charged with being a principal to a hate crime.
A third youth, 17, also from Pinellas County, had retrieved the rope from his red Pontiac and fashioned it into the hangman's noose, Walters said. That youth, too, was charged with being a principal to a hate crime.
The names of the latter two teens were not released because they are juveniles charged with misdemeanors.
According to Walters and the victim's family, this is what happened:
The 14-year-old black youth, who plays junior varsity basketball at Largo High, was walking into Wendy's about 4 p.m. with two white members of the basketball team. Hanging out in the parking lot were Giannola, the two other teens eventually charged and three others.
Giannola started making racial slurs at the 14-year-old while holding onto the rope, but the three basketball players ignored him and went inside, Walters said.
Five minutes later, Giannola went inside and put the noose around the youth's neck, but the teen quickly took it off, threw it at Giannola and told him to back off, Walters said. Giannola then told the black youth about the $10 he was getting and ran off.
The black youth, described as a mild-mannered student with good grades, said he called his mother from Wendy's on a cell phone and later told his basketball coach about the incident. Then police were called.
``I wasn't upset when it first happened because I didn't realize what was going on,'' the youth said. ``I thought someone was just playing with me. After a couple of moments talking with my mom, I realized what was going on.
''I really don't think about [racism] a lot because I have a lot of white friends and a lot of black friends,'' he said.
Of the accused, he said, ``I just wanted them to get into trouble after what they did.''
Before Wednesday, the youth had virtually no experience with racism, his father said.
``In his heart, he never believed that could happen,'' said the teen's father, whose name is being withheld to protect the youth's privacy. ``He never experienced it firsthand like he did.''
LARGO - A white teenager slipped a hangman's noose around the neck of a black teenager Wednesday afternoon at a Wendy's restaurant, then rushed outside loudly professing his hatred of blacks, punctuating his remark with a racial epithet, Largo police said.
Louis John Giannola, 19, of 3022 Mazzie Drive, Zephyrhills, was arrested and charged with battery while committing a hate crime. He was being held at Pinellas County Jail on Thursday with bail set at $10,000.
Also charged was a 16-year-old Pinellas County girl who had promised to give Giannola $10 if he slipped the noose around the neck of the black youth at the Wendy's north of Largo High School, patrol Officer George Walters said.
The girl was charged with being a principal to a hate crime.
A third youth, 17, also from Pinellas County, had retrieved the rope from his red Pontiac and fashioned it into the hangman's noose, Walters said. That youth, too, was charged with being a principal to a hate crime.
The names of the latter two teens were not released because they are juveniles charged with misdemeanors.
According to Walters and the victim's family, this is what happened:
The 14-year-old black youth, who plays junior varsity basketball at Largo High, was walking into Wendy's about 4 p.m. with two white members of the basketball team. Hanging out in the parking lot were Giannola, the two other teens eventually charged and three others.
Giannola started making racial slurs at the 14-year-old while holding onto the rope, but the three basketball players ignored him and went inside, Walters said.
Five minutes later, Giannola went inside and put the noose around the youth's neck, but the teen quickly took it off, threw it at Giannola and told him to back off, Walters said. Giannola then told the black youth about the $10 he was getting and ran off.
The black youth, described as a mild-mannered student with good grades, said he called his mother from Wendy's on a cell phone and later told his basketball coach about the incident. Then police were called.
``I wasn't upset when it first happened because I didn't realize what was going on,'' the youth said. ``I thought someone was just playing with me. After a couple of moments talking with my mom, I realized what was going on.
''I really don't think about [racism] a lot because I have a lot of white friends and a lot of black friends,'' he said.
Of the accused, he said, ``I just wanted them to get into trouble after what they did.''
Before Wednesday, the youth had virtually no experience with racism, his father said.
``In his heart, he never believed that could happen,'' said the teen's father, whose name is being withheld to protect the youth's privacy. ``He never experienced it firsthand like he did.''
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