June 24, 2002 I wrote a column about what was a sensational, but muted story. I was outraged then, and I still am. Not only about the crime but how it was and is being presented to the public by the politically correct, racially selective mass media.

Chante Mallard’s defense attorney contends that his client is a victim of bad press. I contend that she has been the beneficiary of selective press. And of course, the incident in question wasn’t her fault.

Yeah, right….

Then

According to Chante, she had been drinking and using ecstasy (that sure helped her case…) one night last October and while driving home, she just happened to hit a man with her car. The violent contact hurled him headfirst through the windshield, his broken legs jutting out onto the hood.

She said she panicked, and with the man lodged in the windshield of her 1997 Chevrolet Cavalier, she drove a few miles to her home. There, she parked her car in the garage and lowered the door. Although Gregory Biggs begged for help, she offered him no assistance. She left him there, head and torso caught in the windshield of her car, bleeding and slowly going into shock.

Mallard told Fort Worth police she sporadically went into the garage to "check" on Biggs. She said she apologized in earnest for what she had done but ignored his plea for help.

"She is not the monster that police and prosecutors are making her out to be. She was simply a frightened, emotionally distraught young woman who had an accident, panicked and made a wrong choice." - Chante’s lawyer Mike Heiskell

Biggs’ body was found in a park on October 27^th. He had suffered cuts and broken legs, but had no internal injuries that would have caused his death, according to the medical examiner's office. The police suspected he had been indeed been hit by a car, but had no leads until a tipster came forward months later.

According to an arrest warrant affidavit, the woman who tipped police said she, Mallard and several other women were at a party Feb. 15, 2002 when Mallard brought up the accident. While describing the story, she giggled and remarked that after the accident she had sex with a friend at her home.

According to the affidavit, Mallard told the women that she waited a couple of days for Biggs to die before two male friends expunged his body and dumped it in a nearby park. She said she planned to torch the car and buy a new one after she received her income tax refund.

Police searched her house and found her Chevy Cavalier still parked in the garage. Its two seats had been removed and were found in the back yard, one of them burned. Fort Worth police Lt. David Burgess said they are also investigating inconsistencies between what Mallard is said to have admitted at the party and what she told police after her initial arrest Feb. 26 for failure to stop and render aid.

"We don't know how much of that is embellished, how much of that was girl-talk," Burgess said. "Is she (Mallard) scared and not telling us the truth now or is she embellishing what had been said at the party? Probably somewhere in the middle is the truth."

Now

The press seems to have awakened to the bizarre and sensational nature of this case. Also, there is a bit of a lull in the Laci Peterson case, so some news time needs to be filled. But it’s funny what’s been left out, and the only reason I bring it up is that we all know what would be happening if a few pieces of this story were reversed….

I haven’t heard one news outlet refer to Chante Mallard as a black woman.

Okay, maybe the liberal press replete with its racebaiters may be coming around. But then again, if Chante was the victim of the accident and Gregory Biggs, a white man hit her, do you honestly think her race would be an afterthought?

If Chante Mallard were the victim, Jesse Jackson would be demonstrating in front of the Fort Worth courthouse demanding justice. Gloria Allred would be representing anyone and everyone who knew Chante since this case is at a more crucial stage that that of Laci’s and there is no issues involving, heaven forbid, a gag order.

Hollywood (Lifetime specifically) would be preparing treatments of the story, immortalizing the pure Chante Mallard and branding Gregory Biggs a bigot, a heartless sadist, and an evil MAN!

There would be candlelight vigils glorifying Chante as a Civil Right’s hero alongside Rosa Parks. She would join the ranks of homophobe victim Matthew Sheppard and racist dragging victim James Byrd. We would be reminded how this incident pushed back the progress of race relations in this country, and how much more needs to be done.

Oprah would have had as many of Chante’s family members on her show for a group hug and cry. Congress would convene an investigation on how many black women are hit by cars and left to die in the living tombs of racist whites. The National Organization for Women would demand that federal money be set aside and programs be created for female victims of the “hit and house” epidemic in the United States, if not the world.

The Congressional Black Caucus would demand to see the voting record of Gregory Biggs to see if he’s a Republican.

Instead of sporadic coverage on CNN, and sanitized non-judgmental coverage on Court TV, we would see a split screen (a la the O.J. trial verdict) with Chante’s friends, relatives, and Allred holding as many hands as she could on one side; Biggs’ all white friends and relatives on the other. Like O.J., the response would be a win-win for the networks.

A guilty verdict would show Chante’s side jumping up and down and Biggs’ friends distraught. Another white racist would be brought down. A not-guilty verdict would show Chante’s side crying and cursing, and Biggs’ side hugging and smiling. Racism would be said to be still alive and well in America.

But we had none of this.

Chante has spent most of her on-screen time either in tears or being on the verge. Betcha’ Gregory Biggs was on the verge of crying quite a few times, either from the agony of his hemorrhaging near-amputated leg, or the knowledge that he was going to die in that garage and he would never see his family or friends again.

Chante was found guilty of murder, and there are those who will find that harsh and most probably racist. I find the press coverage another example of the liberal, double standard, politically correct cabal that makes the death of Gregory Biggs not only a tragedy, but business as usual.

Bob Parks