A Des Moines man injured in an attack last weekend says three white men assaulted him because he’s black.
Twenty-two-year-old DarQuan Jones was attacked early Saturday morning and he told police at least one of the men used racial slurs during the incident. Five bones in his face were broken; so was his nose and one arm. Two residents from a nearby apartment complex came to his rescue.
“I could have been gone, but with the grace of God, I’m still here,” Jones told reporters yesterday. “I’m still here just with my family and my friends and my loved ones.”
Jones said he wants to know who was responsible, why they singled him out and why the attack was so brutal.
“Why’d they have to go this far to where my life was almost taken? Like, why?” he asked. “I didn’t deserve for my face to be broken.”
Des Moines NAACP president Kameron Middlebrooks said the assault exposes racism within the community. Des Moines Police are still investigating the attack and have not confirmed whether they also believe it was racially motivated.
(By Iowa Public Radio’s Grant Gerlock)