Des Moines, Ia (AP)- The Iowa woman charged in a string of racially-motivated attacks this month managed to avoid prison in recent years after arrests for previous violent crimes and threats. Nicole Poole is charged with intentionally driving her SUV into a Hispanic girl and a black boy near Des Moines-area schools in separate hit-and-run crashes on Dec. 9. She’s also charged with using racial epithets that day at a gas station. In 2017, Poole was charged with stabbing her then-boyfriend while she was on probation. But a felony charge was dismissed after the alleged victim refused to cooperate. Charges alleging she assaulted and harassed another boyfriend in 2018 were dismissed after he also declined to cooperate.
