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Vernon Parish, LA – An 18-year-old is believed to have used a racial slur in a message he sent on social media to describe a pedestrian he struck and killed on a Louisiana highway.
Social media posts have surface which show that Matthew Martin appeared more concerned with the damage to his 2003 Chevrolet pickup truck than killing Sherell Lewis Jr. (pictured,) who had stopped his car on the side of the road to remove debris on the highway.
Martin told a friend on Snapcat that he hit and killed “some n—-r” and he “f—-d up the chevy pretty good,” according to photos of the Snapcat conversation released by KPLC-TV.
He then used an emoji to describe the man’s death.
Lewis, 31, was pronounced dead at a hospital. The Washington Post reported it was his birthday.
The crash is under investigation and the police are aware of the Snapchat posts.
The Washington Post reported that police are confident that Martin was the person who wrote the offensive posts on Snapcath.
Vernon Parish Sheriff Sam Craft said the posts were “morally and socially unacceptable” but were not against the law, according to KPLC.
“I am appalled at the content of the social media messages that were posted after the incident. This post is unacceptable and has no place in our society,” Sheriff Craft said, according to KPLC. “The inflammatory words that were used were morally wrong. I have the utmost confidence in the Louisiana State Police and their ability to thoroughly investigate this incident.”
Lewis stopped his own vehicle at about 3:15 p.m. to remove debris that was on the highway.
“What it appears at this point is that this man was trying to do a good deed,” Louisiana State Police Sergeant James Anderson told The Daily Mail.
On one Snapchat message, Martin posted a picture of his truck and wrote, “y’all I just hit a whole guy on the highway.”
Later Matthews posted on Snapchat, “i feel bad for the family and all but now i gotta buy a new windshield and a whole bunch of other stuff.”