BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — The video accompanying this story is from July 17, 2020.
Charges have been filed against a man who said he was assaulted and pinned to a tree at Lake Monroe last summer.
According to court records, Vauhxx Booker is accused of battery resulting in moderate bodily injury and criminal trespass.
Sean Purdy and Jerry Cox II were previously charged in the July 4, 2020 alleged assault on Booker, a Black man. Booker said someone threatened to “get a noose” during the incident. The defendants claimed Booker and his friends were trespassing when they gathered at the southern Indiana lake.
Booker, a civil rights activist and member of the Monroe County Human Rights Commission, said he called 911 after the assault he said left him with a mild concussion and bald spots on his scalp, along with a scratch on his cheek and an abrasion on his knee.
The attorneys for Purdy and his girlfriend said Booker was the instigator and threatened to use his position in the community to ruin their clients. The attorneys said Booker got into the face of Purdy's girlfriend and when Purdy intervened, Booker hit him three times.