Lawyer says white woman attacked girl because she was black

AIKEN, S.C. (AP) — A white woman is charged with assaulting an 11-year-old black girl in what the girl’s lawyer calls a racially motivated attack.

Elizabeth Shirey accused Skhylur Davis of stealing her mail on May 11, attorney Justin Bamberg said.

Skhylur told police that Shirey "attempted to grab the mail away from her and in the process, grabbed her by the arms and pulled them," a report from the Aiken Department of Public Safety states.

When Shirey saw the address on the mail and realized it was not hers, she let Skhylur go and apologized, the girl told officers, according to the police report.

“After realizing that Skhylur had not done anything wrong, this woman proceeds to offer her cookies, as though that makes things better,” Bamberg said.

Shirey is charged with assault and battery. It isn't clear if she has a lawyer who can speak on her behalf. Her husband declined to comment when reached by phone Tuesday, The Augusta Chronicle reported.

″She was violated,” said Skhylur’s grandmother, Alice Patterson.

“Growing up in the South, we had to endure this, our parents had to endure this," Patterson said. “It’s 2020. We will not have our children go through what we had to go through.”