South Buffalo man charged with hate crime after cross burning
(Kelly Kohr and Mario Echevarria woke up to a burning cross on the lawn in front of their South Park Avenue apartment on July 7.)
A 40-year-old South Buffalo man was charged this morning with burning a cross on the lawn of a nearby house as a "hate crime" targeting a racially-diverse household.
Donald Napierala, of Macamley Street, is accused of igniting the cross on the lawn of a house a couple of blocks away in the 1600 block of South Park Avenue, which was occupied by four people -- Hispanic and white.
Police and fire officials said Napierala placed a cross, described as seven feet by four feet, on the lawn of the home at about 1:30 a.m.
The cross was draped in gasoline-soaked cloth and ignited the cross, which was about two feet away from the occupied home, police reported.
The four people were inside sleeping, but an alert neighbor saw the flames and called the fire department.
Fire officials said the blaze caused about $250 in damages to the lawn, but was it was quickly contained and did not spread to the home. None of the occupants was injured.
Cross burning is largely considered a symbol of the Ku Klux Klan and extremist hate groups, but it is unclear if Napierala is a member of any of these groups.
Officer James T. Reese, along with Fire Marshals Edwin Ortiz and Harold Emerson, arrested Napierala at the Buffalo Fire Marshal's Office on Elmwood Avenue at about 4 a.m.
They charged him with arson, reckless endangerment, and criminal mischief.
vthomas@buffnews.com
They are quality man Grade A... But lets leave that for another day.