ROCHESTER – Local police have completed an investigation into the viral video made last week where a woman used racist slurs against a little boy and a bystander.
Rochester Police Department spokesperson Amanda Grayson said in an email Monday morning that police have forwarded their findings to city attorneys for potential charges. It’s unclear what officers found in the investigation.
“RPD takes all reports and allegations seriously and must thoroughly gather information to ensure due process,” Grayson said in the email. “We recognize the behavior captured in the video has raised many concerns, and we appreciate the community’s patience during the investigation and moving forward.”
A spokesperson for the Rochester City Attorney’s Office says their review will “proceed deliberately, but with an appropriate sense of urgency.” The office declined to give a timeline on when a decision could be made whether to charge the woman, Shiloh Hendrix of Rochester.
The video shows a man confronting Hendrix for calling the boy a slur at a playground in Soldiers Field Memorial Park, just south of downtown. She repeats the slur to the man behind the camera, at one point telling the man the Black child took something from her and her toddler.
Social media commenters have claimed the Black child is around 5 years old and autistic. The Minnesota Star Tribune could not independently confirm the identity of the boy.
Hendrix started a crowdfunding campaign on Thursday shortly after the video went viral. She had collected more than $650,000 as of Monday morning. Many donors expressed racist or white supremacist statements.
In response, the local branch of the NAACP started a crowdfunding campaign of its own Friday to support legal services for the child’s family. They raised more than $340,000 before ending the campaign Saturday at the family’s request.
