Man Arrested in Attack on Rights Pioneer Rosa Parks

A man suspected in Tuesday night’s attack on civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks was captured at a grocery store Wednesday by several neighborhood residents who recognized him from composite sketches and held him until police arrived to make an arrest, authorities said.

“It has been confirmed through independent evidence that the person we have in custody is the person who is responsible for the break-in and the assault on Ms. Parks,” Deputy Police Chief Benny Napoleon said.

“It also should be noted that this person is also responsible for, we believe, at least two other break-ins and assaults on elderly women in the same area.” His identity was not immediately released.

Even before the arrest, Parks said the assault and robbery at her home won’t slow her down.

“I’m a little bruised. I believe I can go on with what I planned to do,” said Parks, who is active in the community, speaking at youth events and advocating nonviolence.

Parks, 81, is known as the “mother of the civil rights movement” for her refusal to give up her seat to a white man on a Montgomery, Ala., bus in 1955. Her arrest triggered a 381-day boycott of city buses and sparked the modern civil rights movement.

She described in detail Wednesday how a black man knocked down her door late Tuesday before beating and robbing her.

The man never indicated that he knew who she was, she said.

When she went upstairs to get some cash, he followed, demanded more money and began to strike her, she said.

“He said, ‘If you don’t give me more then I’m going to have to hurt you,’ ” Parks said.

The man left immediately after Parks gave him the money.

Parks was treated for bruises to her face and chest, then spent the night at the house of her executive assistant, who lives across the street. Police are providing security for an indefinite period.

Parks’ executive assistant, Elaine Steele, said messages were coming in for her from as far away as Japan. “They’re calling from Phoenix, Australia, Alaska,” she said. “It’s amazing the outpouring of support.”