New Hampshire woman accused of telling Black boy she would ‘kneel on his neck’
Kristina Graper, 51, allegedly evoked George Floyd after the boy accidentally broke her son's toy.
A civil rights complaint was filed against a New Hampshire after she allegedly told a Black child she would “kneel on his neck.”
The complaint alleges that on May 10, Kristina Graper, of Dover, N.H., threatened the 9-year-old who was playing in a neighborhood park in Dover after he accidentally broke a toy belonging to Graper’s son, The Hill reported. The broken toy was allegedly the result of Graper’s son pushing the boy, which made him break the toy. It prompted the boy to run home to tell his mother what happened.
The civil complaint alleges that the threat was motivated by the victim’s race, as Graper allegedly also leveled an unspecified racial slur at the child. A witness told Graper that her behavior toward the child was unnecessary, to which Graper responded by yelling at that person, according to The Associated Press.
The child’s mother called the police upon hearing of the incident. When Graper met with police on June 1, she denied threatening to kneel on the boy’s neck, but admitted to saying something akin to “you wonder why you guys get (expletive) kneeled on.”
The child recognized the “kneel” comment as a reference to now-former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin’s murder of George Floyd in 2020 by kneeling on his neck for nearly nine minutes. The complaint said the boy started crying when he heard Graper’s words and is afraid to return to the park. He will only do so “when other children are there to help keep him safe.”
The video recording of the murder of Floyd, 46, galvanized a nation already frazzled by the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in an unprecedented number of protests, demonstrations, and civil disobedience. Chauvin was convicted in April on charges of second-degree unintentional murder, second-degree manslaughter, and third-degree murder.
He received a sentence of more than 22 years in prison, theGrio previously reported.
If found liable for a civil rights violation, Graper could face a maximum civil penalty of $5,000.
Have you subscribed to theGrio’s podcast “Dear Culture”? Download our newest episodes now!
TheGrio is now on Apple TV, Amazon Fire, and Roku. Download theGrio today!
