MAN ARRESTED FOR RAMMING US PROTESTERS IS REFUSED BAIL
▶ Former high school teacher reveals former pupil’s fascination with Hitler and Nazi Germany
The man accused of ramming his car into a crowd of counterprotesters at a white nationalist rally in Virginia, killing a woman and injuring 19 others people, was denied bail yesterday.
James Alex Fields Jr was not present in the courtroom but appeared via a video link. He answered simply “Yes, sir” when the judge asked if he understood what was being explained to him, and “No, sir” when asked if he had ties to the community of Charlottesville, where the attack occurred.
Judge Robert Downer set an August 25 hearing for the 20-year-old, who has been charged with second-degree murder and other counts.
The judge appointed a local lawyer to represent Fields after the public defenders’ office said it could not do so because a relative of someone in the office was injured in Saturday’s protest.
Fields is charged in the death of Heather Heyer, 32, of Charlottesville, who died after the car that police say Fields was driving slammed into a crowd of people protesting against a nationalist rally being held in the town. Fields was arrested shortly afterwards.
A former high school teacher, Derek Weimer, said Fields was fascinated with Nazism, idolised Adolf Hitler, and had been singled out by school officials in the ninth grade for his “deeply held, radical” convictions on race. Fields also confided that when younger he had been found to be suffering from schizophrenia and prescribed an anti-psychotic medication, Mr Weimer said.
Mr Fields was an average student, but with a keen interest in military history, Hitler, and Nazi Germany, he said.
“Once you talked to James for a while, you would start to see that sympathy towards Nazism, that idolisation of Hitler, that belief in white supremacy,” said Mr Weimer, who was Mr Fields’ social studies teacher at Randall K Cooper high school in Union, Kentucky. “It would start to creep out.”
Hours before Fields’ silver Dodge Challenger ploughed into protesters, he was photographed with a shield bearing the emblem of Vanguard America, one of the hate groups that took part in the “take America back” campaign to protest against the removal of a Confederate statue in Charlottesville. The group has denied any association with the suspect.
Meanwhile, a message posted on a leading neo-Nazi website called The Daily Stormer promised future events that would be “bigger than Charlottesville”.
The town mayor, leaders from across the political spectrum, and activists and community organisers around the country have planned rallies, vigils and education campaigns to combat the hate groups. They also pressed president Donald Trump to forcefully denounce these groups, some of which specifically cited Mr Trump’s election after a campaign of racially charged rhetoric as validation of their beliefs.
The US attorney general Jeff Sessions said federal authorities would pursue a civil rights investigation into the circumstances surrounding the crash.
Mr Weimer recalled that school officials had singled out Fields for his political beliefs and “deeply held, radical” convictions on race and Nazism. “It was a known issue,” he said.
Fields left school for a while, and when he came back he was quieter about politics until his senior year, when politicians started to declare their candidacy for the presidential race last year, Mr Weimer said. Fields was a big Trump supporter because of what he believed to be Trump’s views on race.
Mr Trump’s proposal to build a border wall with Mexico was particularly appealing to Fields, Mr Weimer said.
As a senior, Fields wanted to join the army, and Mr Weimer, a former officer in the Ohio national guard, guided him through the process of applying, he said, believing that the military would expose his student to people of different races and backgrounds and help him dispel his white supremacist views. But Mr Fields was ultimately turned down, which was a big blow, he said.
Mr Weimer said he lost contact with Fields after he graduated and was surprised to hear reports that he had enlisted in the army.
“The army can confirm that James Alex Fields reported for basic military training in August of 2015,” said Lt Col Jennifer Johnson. “He was, however, released from active duty due to a failure to meet training standards in December of 2015.”
Fields’ mother, Samantha Bloom, said she knew her son was going to Virginia for a political rally, but she had no idea it involved white supremacists.
“I just told him to be careful,” she said, telling him that if there were protests “to make sure he’s doing it peacefully”.
James Fields was singled out in ninth grade at school for his ‘deeply held, radical’ convictions on race and Nazism