Mack Cotton: Driving While Black

by Alex Cuff PNN Newsbrief Editor

Typical of mainstream media, some of the most important stories are missed because they aren’t covering the president and his war, the rise and fall of celebrities, or politicians. The lack of these stories, which are in fact happening in our own neighborhoods, contribute to the ignorance and apathy of local residents who have the power to be making a difference. A perfect example is the story of Mack Cotton, the 42-year old Stevens County, WA, man who was the victim of a violent offense but who is being treated as a criminal. “I was in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Cotton told District Court Judge Pamela Payne before she convicted him and suspended his driver’s license for two years. After sentencing, Cotton paid for a transcript of his trial and voluntarily took a lie detector test. “I took the polygraph and passed it,” he said last week. “Now I think somebody should take a look at what really happened up there. I was a victim who was victimized.”

On the evening of 12/14, Cotton stopped by a popular hangout for residents of the nearby Spokane Indian Reservation. When the bartender served him a tequila drink instead of the gin and tonic he ordered, Cotton sent it back and went to use the restroom. Upon returning to his seat at the bar, Cotton was “punched in the side of the face and hit on the back of the head” with beer bottles and a pool stick. Cotton said that as he was knocked to the floor, he saw the bartender watching, but doing nothing.

Law enforcement officials confirmed that the bartender has had links to the Aryan Nations and white supremacists and Cotton who is African-descendant, believes he may have said something to provoke the attackers. “I heard one or two of the men beating me say, ‘Oh, you think you’re bad, nigger,” Cotton recalled. Four men aggressively kicked Mack while breaking beer bottles over his head until a woman intervened yelling at the attackers to stop. Police say they can’t find anyone to corroborate Cotton’s story! He has since taken and passed a polygraph test about the events in the bar that night.

When Cotton got away from the bar, he limped to his truck, bleeding from the mouth and the head. Scared for his life, Cotton got in his truck and loaded the .25 caliber handgun he kept under the seat. Shortly after driving a few feet, he pulled over to adjust and wipe his blood soaked eyeglasses and was stopped by the Springdale police chief, Strom, who asked him if he’d been drinking but made no inquiry about his beat up face.

“I told him I’d had a few drinks,” Cotton said. “He asked me if I had a gun, and I immediately handed it to him.” Mack Cotton was arrested on the spot. He was booked into the Stevens County jail on charges of being in physical control of a vehicle while intoxicated and carrying a gun without a permit. By the time the police chief heard about the attack and returned to question witnesses, the bar was closed.

Cotton is having a difficult time getting authorities to investigate the four men who beat him up in a Springdale bar. On 1/3, the Strom completed a report from Cotton about the assault and by then witnesses had provided names of the four assailants. Still Strom said there isn’t enough evidence for arrests. In February, Cotton reported the incident to the FBI, alleging he was the victim of a hate crime that local authorities had failed to fully investigate. An FBI agent was assigned the case in May but the federal investigation was suspended when the agent was transferred. Cotton has been unsuccessful in his attempts to get authorities to press assault charges against his attackers. Convicted by a jury, Cotton was sentenced 10/15 to 30 days in jail and fined $1,655 on the physical control charge. He was given another 30 days in jail, to be served concurrently, on the charge of carrying a weapon without a permit.