James Ragland (pictured) and his son were reportedly ambushed by a white man on horseback who was carrying a rope as he made threatening gestures at them in Texas
A black driver and his son were reportedly ambushed by a white man on horseback who was carrying a rope as he made threatening gestures at them while they traveled down a Texas road.
James Ragland said he and his son, Judah, had a ‘terrifying experience – a terroristic threat from a white man with a rope’.
Ragland, who is a former columnist for Dallas Morning News, shared details of the August 5 incident in multiple Facebook posts.
According to the father-of-two, he was dropping off his nephew at a relative’s house on Floyd Evans Road in Elysian Fields, just south of Marshall, Texas, when they came upon a family on horseback: two children and two adults.
As Ragland approached them with his car, one man, who Ragland later identified as Grant Williams, steered his horse directly in their vehicle’s path.
Ragland said that the other family members went passed the car, but the ‘guy just stopped in front of our car and glared at us’.
‘Then, he turned the horse sideways to more completely block the road, and he turned to face us down – I kid you not – like a gunman in the Wild West,’ Ragland said, adding that his son and nephew grew more nervous as the events unfolded.
‘I’m perplexed, but not yet alarmed. But then the guy guides his horse to the driver’s side and stops. I glance over and he’s just staring me down. I roll the window down, thinking he had something to say, but he just sizes us up. I finally say, “Nice horse.”
‘”Thank ya,” he mumbles. Then he blurts out: “These are Texas roads,” Ragland wrote, noting that he then asked the man what he meant.
“These are TEXAS roads,” he said louder,’ Ragland wrote. The man then pointed out that Ragland’s rental car had California license plates.
Ragland said the man (pictured holding the rope) blocked the road while they were driving to a relative’s home. The man told Ragland that, ‘these are Texas roads,’ before the father-of-two drove off
Once he dropped his nephew off, Ragland and his son embarked on the road again. This time the man (pictured with the rope) chased them with his horse while holding the rope and making threatening gestures as they sped away
‘”It’s a rental,” I shot back. And without missing a beat, the guy declared loudly again, “BUT THESE ARE TEXAS ROADS!”‘ Ragland wrote. He said he then asked the man: ‘What the efff does that mean?’
At that point, the man reached back and Ragland thought he was reaching for a gun, which prompted Ragland to ease forward and speed away while the man was ‘still yelling and making threatening gestures’.
Ragland then dropped his nephew off at his relative’s home and a short time later he and his son left the home and traveled along the same road where they spotted the man again.
This time, the man ‘charges from his property on the north side and runs right out to our car, and for one frightening moment I thought he was going to dart in front of us’.
‘But as I sped up to avoid him, he pulled alongside our car and chased us for a mile while yelling and throwing the f… you sign initially before reaching for something on his right side,’ Ragland said.
Ragland said during the whole ordeal his son was begging him to drive faster along the road with the ‘angry white dude on Horseback in full pursuit’.
‘When I got several hundred yards in front, I stopped the car – with Judah going berserk because he thought the guy was going to shoot at us – and I snapped a few pictures on my iPhone,’ Ragland said.
He later contacted the Harrison County Sheriff’s Office and reported the incident.
Ragland managed to pull over after the man chased them down the road and snap a few photos of the guy, who he later identified as Grant Williams (pictured). Ragland said he reported the incident to the local sheriff’s office
An officer assured Ragland that they would be sending someone out to the man’s home.
But three days later, Ragland shared another Facebook post that claimed the sheriff’s office had not taken the matter seriously.
‘I’ve learned a lot in short order about how injustice manifests itself culturally and institutionally. Since the #HarrisonCountySheriff’s office won’t do its job, I will take other legal steps to protect the public, and hold an untruthful and unrepentant #GrantWilliams accountable,’ Ragland wrote.
In that post, Ragland shared a photo of Williams sitting on a horse with a Confederate flag draped over its back.
‘The fine citizens of Elysian Fields and innocent interlopers who might find themselves in the area deserve to know what he looks like for their own safety,’ Ragland said.
Authorities from the sheriff’s office said Ragland would have to come into the police station to make an official police report.