Lincoln Man Charged With Hate Crime, After Further Review

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Thod T. Kuaygong surrendered early Oct. 23 after screaming anti-white sentiments from behind a locked door for 30 minutes, according to a police report.

He continued his tirade on the drive to jail and while being booked.

Officers at the time cited Kuaygong on suspicion of committing a hate crime on top of the assault–turning what would have been a misdemeanor into a felony.

But the hate crime accusation disappeared when he was formally charged Oct. 25.

It reappeared Tuesday.

And now Kuaygong is the second suspect to face a hate crime charge in 2010, despite more than 30 reported hate crimes recorded by Lincoln police so far this year.

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Lancaster County Chief Deputy Attorney Joe Kelly said his office restored the charge after he asked his prosecutor and the investigator to take a closer look at the case.

“It’s filed the way it is now because the investigation supports those charges,” Kelly said. “The facts we know of support those charges.”

Last month, Police Chief Tom Casady–addressing the gap between reported hate crimes and formal charges–acknowledged they’re hard to prove in court.

“What motivated a crime is very, very difficult to prove,” Casady said. “I understand it’s adding a level of complexity to the prosecution.”

But Kuaygong is accused of telling his victim he hated white people.

Police say he went to another unit in his apartment complex at 1119 E St. on Oct. 23, trying to convince a 19-year-old woman to return home with him.

He was upset and yelling. He told her she needed to be “with her people.”

Kuaygong and the woman are from Africa, according to the report.

The 35-year-old man in the other unit told police he reached out to shake hands, but Kuaygong called him a “white bastard” and punched him in the left eye, knocking him back into his apartment.

“I am a racist,” Kuaygong yelled.

“I hate white people,” he told police.

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