FL Man Sentenced In Racially-Motivated Attack Against 6 Black Men

WASHINGTON, DC — A Levy County man will spend just over a year in prison after he was convicted of carrying out a racially motivated attack on a group of Black men surveying land near Rosewood.

A judge sentenced David Emanuel, 63, of Cedar Key, to one year and a day in prison followed by two years of supervised release for attacking the men surveying land owned by one of the victims, federal prosecutors said.

The attack took place near the site of the 1923 Rosewood massacre, where a mob of more than 200 white men attacked the Black community, killing more than 30 Black women, men, and children, and burned the town to the ground.

“This defendant violently and callously sought to strike a group of Black men with his truck because of their race," Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke said in a statement. "As we mark 100 years since the horrific 1923 Rosewood Massacre, the Justice Department stands resolute in its commitment to holding accountable those who commit violent racially-motivated hate crimes in our country."

Emanuel was convicted in July after a jury determined he drove his truck toward the group of six elderly or adult Black men because of their race and because they were using a public road.

When Emanuel approached the men, he shouted racial slurs and expletives at them, demanding they "get out of the woods" before he drove his truck directly at the group, nearly striking one of them.

At trial, one witness testified that Emanuel admitted that he came at the group, and another said Emanuel came “within inches” of striking one of the victims and that one victim, “nearly lost his life that day.”

The attack resulted in no injuries, prosecutors said.

The FBI Jacksonville Field Office and Gainesville Resident Agency investigated the case with assistance from the Levy County Sheriff’s Office, according to prosecutors.

The case was prosecuted in the Northern District of Florida.