Cedar Key man charged with racially motivated federal hate crimes against several black men

United States Department of Justice
Office of Public Affairs
Wednesday, March 15, 2023

A federal grand jury in Gainesville, Florida, returned a six-count indictment charging David A. Emanuel, 61, with committing hate crimes for his racially motivated attack on a group of Black men who were surveying land along a public road in Cedar Key, Florida.

The indictment, returned by a federal grand jury, alleges that on Sept. 6, 2022, Emanuel willfully intimidated the victim and attempted to injure, intimidate and interfere with him, through the use of Emanuel’s vehicle, because of the victim's race and color.

Emanuel is further alleged to have willfully intimidated and interfered with, and attempted to intimidate and interfere with, five additional victims, through the use of his vehicle, because of the victims’ race and color. According to the indictment, all six victims were Black males who were surveying land owned by one of the victims at the time of the alleged offenses.

Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, U.S. Attorney Jason R. Coody for the Northern District of Florida, Assistant Director Luis Quesada of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division and Special Agent in Charge Sherri E. Onks of the FBI Jacksonville Field Office made the announcement.

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

Assistant U.S. Attorney Kaitlin Weiss for the Northern District of Florida and Trial Attorney Laura-Kate Bernstein of the Civil Rights Division’s Criminal Section are prosecuting the case.

An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

Background

According to the Levy County Sheriff's Office, the incident occurred on September 6, 2022, while a group of men were assembled on the edge of the right of way on SW 96 Court in Cedar Key, Florida, discussing a land clearing project with a local businessman.

Witnesses said that Emanuel used his vehicle, a white Ford F250 pickup truck, to make several passes at the group, while shouting racial slurs and traveling at a high rate of speed, coming within inches of striking one of the people gathered near the roadway.

Emanuel was arrested on Sept. 12. 2022, charged with agravated assault with a deadly weapon without intent to kill, with his bond set at $50,000.

The owners of the property have owned about 5 acres in the former Rosowood, Florida area, now Cedar Key, Florida, for more than 10 years. They were meeting with the land clearing company to discuss preparing the land for an event planned for January 2023, the 100-year anniversary of the Rosewood Massacre, which occurred during January 1-7, 1923.

Before 1923, Rosewood, Florida served as a whistle-stop along the Seaboard Airline Railway and was home to approximately 200 residents, until almost all the buildings in the town were burned by angry mobs of white people, upset by claims made by 22 year old Fannie Taylor on January 1, 1923, that a black man had entered her home and assaulted her. During the massacre, at least 6 black people and 2 white people were killed. Some estimates say that as many as 27 to 150 people were killed in the Rosewood Massacre, which is recognized as one of the worst racist attacks on a predominantly black community in U. S. history.

The horrific massacre was portrayed in the 1997 film, Rosewood, by John Singleton, which can be streamed for free on Pluto TV and Filmrise.