The Spotsylvania County branch of the NAACP released a statement Wednesday outlining its “deep concerns” regarding the decision by a special grand jury to indict two Black women involved in a racially fueled incident on Partlow Road on July 20.
Jamaria Gaskins and Amylah Majors, of Richmond, are facing a misdemeanor charge of filing a false police report and a felony charge of obtaining money by false pretenses. Majors is also charged with reckless driving.
The couple initially alleged they were victims of a hate crime when they stopped on Partlow Road after they ran over some debris. They said a family exited their home, berated them with racial slurs, while one exposed himself, and another brandished a firearm.
They had video evidence of those claims, and Mark Goodman and Elizabeth Wolfrey are now facing misdemeanor charges of indecent exposure and brandishing a firearm, respectively.
Their November court date was rescheduled to Feb. 18 after Gaskins and Majors were charged.
Gaskins and Majors also alleged that someone in the group pointed a firearm at them and chased them down the rural road, leading to a crash that caused serious injuries. In their statement on the crowdfunding site, gofundme.com, they offered no video or photographic evidence of the alleged chase. They raised $21,131 on the site, which led to the obtaining money by false pretenses charge.
While Spotsylvania NAACP President Moe Petway said the civil rights organization is dissatisfied with Commonwealth’s Attorney Ryan Mehaffey’s decision to charge the couple, Mehaffey released a statement noting that it was the special grand jury that charged Gaskins and Majors.
Mehaffey noted that the NAACP pushed him to investigate the matter as a hate crime, and he honored the request. He turned the evidence over to a special grand jury and it returned indictments against the women.
“The charging decision was made by the special grand jury,” Mehaffey said. “That possibility was thoroughly discussed with all concerned parties beforehand. I would caution anyone from drawing any conclusion about this matter until the criminal cases are completed, and all the facts and circumstances are publicly known. I am ethically prohibited from commenting publicly on the merits of any criminal case before its trial.”
Gaskins and Majors have hearings scheduled for Dec. 18 and Jan. 20 in Spotsylvania Circuit Court.
Petway said the NAACP “does not believe these charges … reflect the reality of the circumstances.” He said the NAACP also does not believe that the couple’s actions were meant to deceive or maliciously commit a crime.
“We believe the women were so traumatized by this hostile environment that they fled in fear for their lives, which subsequently resulted in crashing their vehicle,” the statement read. “Both women sustained bodily injuries, head trauma, along with other serious and lasting medical needs.”
Petway’s statement said the women “acted out of self-preservation in the face of imminent danger,” and to characterize their getaway as reckless driving disregards the threat they faced. He said the allegation of fraud “overlooks the seriousness of their injuries and their genuine belief that they were being followed, as any vehicle behind them during their escape could reasonably be seen as a threat.”
Petway said that the couple’s mounting medical bills, loss of mobility, loss of their vehicle and income were their reasons for soliciting assistance from the community.
He said the women made the right decision to flee the scene and avoid a potential shootout.
“Also, given their mental state when the GoFundMe page was set up, the NAACP does not believe the young women maliciously attempted to mislead nor deceive anyone,” the statement read. “Criminalizing these women’s response to a traumatic and life-altering incident risks compounding their suffering rather than addressing the real danger they endured. In other words, making them a ‘victim’ again.”
