Fraud in the service of racism

Yesterday we began seeing a photo make the rounds on Facebook, purporting to show officer Darren Wilson in a hospital bed with facial injuries — obviously intended to shore up the now-debunked unsourced claim first made by wingnut blogger Jim Hoft that Wilson suffered a fractured eye socket.

This photo was definitively debunked first by LGF contributor CuriousLurker in this comment yesterday morning:

Well that took all of five minutes. The guy’s name was Jim McNeil and he was a freestyle motocross rider who died in 2011 during practice for an exhibition. The photo being used is from 2006, when he crashed & face planted. These people are disgusting, utterly without shame.

LGF contributor Alouette got a screenshot of another right winger (a horrifically racist cretin) posting it on Twitter later in the day (he has since deleted it):

And now, a short time ago, it was posted by right wing talk radio host Larry Elder at his website (also now deleted, but still visible in Google’s cache):

(h/t: @tumbyMe.)

If you see this photo being touted as “proof” that Darren Wilson was assaulted by Michael Brown before Wilson shot the unarmed Brown in the street (and you probably will, because right wingers always pass this stuff around long after it’s debunked), here’s your proof that it’s a fake.

To reiterate, the photo is actually motocross rider Jim McNeil, and it was taken in October 2006 after he crashed while riding at a friend’s house.