BAY SAINT LOUIS, Miss — A doll handed to a child along a parade route Sunday in Bay St. Louis has police investigating a possible hate crime.
While the signs of Carnival were still along Highway 90 in Bay St. Louis on Monday, beads apparently weren’t the only thing coming off floats as the Krewe of Nereids rolled.
The Hancock County NAACP says a doll with a strand of beads tied around its neck was handed to a young black girl in the crowd.
“I wouldn’t say it was shocking,” said Gregory Barabino, the president of the Hancock County NAACP. “I just thought it was blatant and my first concern was the emotional well-being of the young lady the incident happened to.”
He said he wants to see whoever made the doll and handed it out held accountable.
“We’re trying to find out who it is to see what intent that person had,” said Mayor Mike Smith of Waveland. “Because, if it was ill intent, then, I hate to say it, he’ll be charged with a hate crime. We can’t tolerate this in our community.”
Smith said that while the parade began in his city, it doesn’t matter that the throw was handed out next door in Bay St. Louis.
“It didn’t matter, because that kind of behavior is not tolerated, especially in either of our cities,” he said.
Smith said police in Bay St. Louis are now looking for whoever made and handed out the doll.
Barabino said he’s sad an investigation like this has to happen in this day and age.
“We still have a long way to go,” he said.
Eyewitness News tried to contact Bay St. Louis Police for a comment and had not received a reply as of Monday evening.