Officer, Couple Vary in Account of Oxford Incident

OXFORD, N.C. — Both parties are speaking out in a Granville County ethnic intimidation case.

Former Henderson Police Officer Anthony Finch is accused of chasing after a black couple. James Maye and Dionne Hensley say Finch shouted racial slurs and pointed a gun at them.

“I was hysterical. By the time we got to the police department, hysterical. My child could have been in the back seat of that car. He could have shot and killed us, he could have killed my child or anything else. This situation was uncalled for. Period,” Hensley said.

“If I’d have had any intent to hurt either one of these people, I could have done it well before Oxford,” Finch said. “I went to the police department and went in a circle twice, yelling out the window, ‘Stop that car.’”

“At no time did I make racial slurs, anything. If I had a thought for one minute this was about race, I would have never chased them down,” Finch said.

Police charged Finch with ethnic intimidation and pointing a firearm at the couple.

“There was several slander words used, even in the presence of the officers that were there,” Capt. Glen Boyd said.

They found a picture of Finch in a Ku Klux Klan outfit. He said it was a Halloween gag.

Finch says the couple threatened to shoot his stepson.