Straight from our "Blame a black man" file, Conrad Zdzierak, a Polish immigrant, donned a black "hyper-realistic" mask when robbing several banks in Ohio. To security cameras and witnesses, he looked like an undisguised black man. Which is why an innocent black guy was arrested for the crimes. Conrad Zdzierak called Hollywood mask-making company SPFXMasks inquiring about a mask of a young African-American man called "the Player" and a matching set of black hands. He said he was doing research as a movie producer and needed the items. Zdzierak was actually doing the research as a bank robber. Police acted quickly and mistakenly arrested a black man for the crimes. Six of seven eye witnesses identified the black man as the culprit in a lineup, and even the falsely accused man's mother thought it was her son when police showed her a surveillance photo of the robber. The black man was locked up until recently, when Zdzierak's girlfriend found the mask and a stash of money and contacted police.
It's a good thing that someone has a conscience. How sad is that even immigrants know that all you have to do to get away with a crime is to blame a black man? Brilliant and shameful. Shaking our heads over here at The Root.
Read more at Gizmodo.