A Dallas bartender has been arrested and charged for physically assaulting a woman outside of his workplace in Deep Ellum, Dallas.
According to local reports, the incident occurred early Wednesday morning in the 2800 block of Elm Street, over what the victim, L’Daijohnique Lee, said was a “simple mistake.” Around 4:26 a.m., officials responded to reports of a disturbance, and upon arrival, they spoke to Lee, who said the man confronted her about blocking a parking lot exit.
Apparently, the 24-year-old drove the wrong way down Elm Street to drop her friends off at a hostel, but when she moved her car into the lot to let them out, the man confronted her.
“I knew I was on a one-way street, but I was stopping literally at the corner to let my friend out,” she said.
As the man approached, he tried to get a picture of her license plate. However, Lee warned him to “get back or else she would mace him,” according to the arrest warrant. The entire incident was caught on camera by an eye witness, and at one point, the suspect, who has been identified as Austin Shuffield, pulled out a gun.
“I got scared,” Lee said, though the man never points it at Lee in the video. “I was like ‘you have a gun?’ The first thing I thought to do was call the police.”
However, as she attempted to phone officials, the man slapped the phone out of her hand and kicked it away from her. In turn, Lee, who claimed to be in fear for her life, tried to defend herself by trying to push him away. However, that’s when Shuffield attacked her.
“He charged at me, and he just kept hitting me, and I was like ‘ok, ok, ok,” Lee explained to WFAA. “Watching that video literally makes me cry. All I could do was try and protect myself. He literally sat there and beat me like a man.”
After the incident, the video was turned over to police, Shuffield was arrested at the scene, and a gun and knife were later found in his car. As for the man who recorded the video, he explained that he did not intervene because Shuffield was armed. But, at the end of the day, Lee was grateful.
“In reality, that recording really helped me because when the police showed up, it would have been my word against his.”
In the meantime, Shuffield has since been fired from his job, and Lee has hired Civil Rights Attorney Lee Merrit in the wake of her case, as many have since come forward with evidence of Shuffield’s past use of racist language.
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