A drunken argument involving Ku Klux Klan leadership last weekend precipitated a brawl that ended with criminal charges for two Klansmen and a trip to the hospital for another, according to one of the participants.
Richard Dillon, 47, was treated at a North Carolina hospital last Saturday for stab wounds allegedly received as a result of a fight that erupted during a Klan meeting at a member’s house in Yancyville, north of Raleigh. Authorities later arrested two suspects, William Hagen and Christopher Eugene Barker, both of whom have since been identified as leading members of separate Klan factions.
Mr. Dillon told the Los Angeles Times in an interview afterwards that he believes he was stabbed because he had criticized Mr. Hagen’s handling of a February rally in Anaheim that gained national attention after it turned violent and yielded several arrests.
Speaking to the newspaper, Mr. Dillon said that he and Mr. Hagen, the “Grand Dragon” of a California Klan chapter, were among the more than two dozen individuals who had gathered at Mr. Barker’s Yancyville residence last week for a meeting of the Loyal White Knights, a Klan faction based out of nearby Pelham, N.C.
During the course of the gathering, Mr. Dillon decided to confront Mr. Hagen over comments that were made on the internet in the aftermath of the Anaheim rally, the newspaper reported. According to the Times, Mr. Dillon had taken aim at the Grand Dragon’s decision to hold the event without security, and said in doing such he had endangered the lives of fellow Klan members.
Mr. Dillon initially apologized for the comments during the meeting, but his attempt at being amiable stalled when Mr. Hagen became drunk on “Skyy vodka and orange juice,” according to the stab victim.
“Mr. Dillon stated that he was sitting in the dining area of the residence with Mr. Hagen and Mr. Barker drinking and talking,” reads a probable cause statement made in support of searching Mr. Barker’s residence after the stabbing. “The previous argument Mr. Dillon and Mr. Hagen had was later brought up again, which resulted in another argument.”
According to Mr. Dillon, soon after he was stabbed in chest by a fixed-blade knife brandished by Mr. Hagen.
“Mr. Dillon advised that after being stabbed, he was able to fight off Mr. Hagen,” the statement says. “He was then struck by Mr. Barker.”
Mr. Dillon eventually fled the residence after being stabbed early Saturday morning stabbing and later made his way to the Caswell County Sheriff’s Office.
Authorities executed a search warrant at the meeting place later that day and arrested Mr. Barker, the “Imperial Wizard” of the regionally based Loyal White Knights, on one count felony aiding and abetting the assault. Mr. Hagen was arrested at a traffic stop several hours later and charged with one count of felony assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury.
The stabbing occurred several hours before the Klan members had planned to hold a “victory parade” in Pelham in celebration of Donald Trump being elected president. Instead, police said the group briefly led a caravan of around 20 vehicles through the nearby town of Roxboro on Saturday afternoon, absent the participation of its recently arrested Imperial Wizard.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.