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Tribune News Service
Tribune News Service
National
Zachary Hansen

Racist robocall defends woman who intervened in Georgia hit-and-run

ATLANTA _ A robocall that was paid for by a white supremacist podcast known for sending racist calls has shocked several Clayton County residents, including the district attorney.

The call has been circulating after the arrest of a 21-year-old Fayetteville woman who is accused of fatally shooting a man after witnessing a hit-and-run crash last week.

"Negroes aren't American. They aren't really fully human. It's time to send them all to Africa," the call, paid for by Road To Power, said. "She's been cast as the criminal when in fact it was the negro."

Hannah Payne was arrested May 7 after witnessing a crash near Clark Howell Highway and Ga. 85, where 62-year-old Kenneth Herring tried to drive away from a wreck he caused, Clayton County police previously said.

Payne followed Herring's pickup truck for about a mile and boxed him in with her Jeep near the intersection of Riverdale Road and Forest Parkway. After an altercation, Herring was fatally shot in the abdomen, and Payne was arrested on a murder charge. Police have not released details about the altercation.

Payne's attorney, Matt Tucker, told WBS-TV his client has no connection to the robocalls or the Idaho-based group, which the Anti-Defamation League described as a "white supremacist and anti-Semitic broadcasting outlet."

Payne maintains her innocence, with Tucker saying the gun fired after a struggle that left her with scratch marks and a ripped shirt.

Former Fayette County NAACP President John E. Jones was one of the recipients of the call. He told WBS it is only trying to incite a "race war."

"Hannah Payne did nothing wrong," the call continued. "Tell the district attorney of Clayton County, Georgia, free Hannah Payne."

District Attorney Tracy Graham Lawson said she was "flabbergasted" and "repulsed" by the call, adding that no one has contacted her office about the case as a result of the call.

"It's not going to be doing Ms. Payne any favors for people with attitudes like that to contact this office about the case," she told the news station.

Payne remains in jail without bond.

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