WINNSBORO, LA – In a matter that is growing more bizarre by the day, Sharmeka Moffitt, a 20-year-old African-American woman, made an emergency call to police Sunday night claiming that three men wearing white hoods or hats attacked her, doused her with flammable liquid and set her on fire at a park in Winnsboro, LA. Police, however, were skeptical of her claims, and are now publicly branding her an attention-seeking liar.
Franklin Parish Sheriff Kevin Cobb, in an official statement, confirmed that “KKK” was written on the hood of Sharmeka Moffitt’s car along with the racial slur “nigger.” But despite her serious injuries — she is now in critical condition requiring surgery — the police have grilled Moffitt and obtained a confession wherein she allegedly admits to having made KKK the story up. “Basically we had to follow the facts,” Cobb said. “This was a disturbing case for all involved. All indications show this was a self-inflicted situation,” he told reporters in a press conference Tuesday.
But questions remain in this case which the police have swiftly brought to a close. How did the police get a confession from a girl in critical condition with burns over most of her body and who is likely under heavy drugs for her pain? In less than 48 hours of her torture and hospitalization, the police appear to have grilled the girl without the presence of an attorney and forced a drug-induced confession when they should have been scouring the scene for evidence, awaiting results from forensic experts and questioning potential witnesses.
The victim’s fingerprints were on the lighter and lighter fluid, says the police, and this is their reason for halting the investigation, asserting Sharmeka Moffitt set herself on fire and fabricated a KKK story. Their rush to blame the victim, and their rush the publicize her drug-induced confession, is shameful. It clearly shows the police never believed her to begin with, perhaps because of her race, and perhaps because they know the KKK is alive and well in the South. Perhaps some of their very own officers were involved. That would certainly be a compelling reason to rush to close the case and discredit the victim by coercing a her confession while she’s seriously ill and drugged.
I wouldn’t trust her “confession” under these circumstances and her parents shouldn’t either. Further investigation is warranted.
Louisiana State Police spokeswoman Lt. Julie Lewis told reporters the FBI is investigating the attack as a possible hate crime. However, no arrests had been made as of late Monday, Lewis said.