Group of men 'set woman on fire' in racist attack
A black woman claims a group of white men lit her on fire in a racist attack.
Althea Bernstein, 18, told police she stopped at an intersection in her car in Madison, in the US state of Wisconsin, on Wednesday about 1am when four men approached her, Wisconsin State Journal reports.
Madison police spokesman Joel DeSpain said Ms Bernstein claims one of the men yelled a racist remark at her then used a spray bottle to douse her with lighter fluid.
Mr DeSpain added the man then threw a lighter causing Ms Bernstein’s face and neck to burn.
The teen, who works as an emergency medical technician, told local news site Madison 365 she panicked and drove through a red light to get away from the men.
“It’s so incapacitating, you don’t even realise what’s going on,” she said.
“My brain still got me home and my brain still got me to call my mom. I just remember my face was bleeding.”
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Ms Bernstein was hospitalised with third-degree burns.
Her attackers are yet to be caught.
City of Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway called the attack “horrifying and absolutely unacceptable”.
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