Stunning video shows a Popeyes employee at a restaurant in Tennessee chase a woman out to the parking lot and body-slam her, leaving her with several injuries, her attorney told The Tennessean.
The video was recorded Tuesday night and showed Deriance Ra’Shaiel Hughes, 29, picking up a 55-year-old woman and throwing her down in Columbia, Tenn.
Hughes was arrested Friday and charged with aggravated assault.
The woman, who has not been identified, suffered nine fractures in her elbow, six broken ribs and a broken left leg.
Rocky McElhaney, the woman’s attorney, said the incident occurred after the customer noticed she had been double-billed for her dinner order. After returning to the restaurant at the manager’s suggestion to get a refund, she had an altercation with the employee.
McElhaney said the manager treated her with hostility when she returned, but other witnesses reported that the woman, who is white, used racial slurs. McElhaney said his client denies using any slurs.
McElhaney alleges his client was called a “broken-down cracker,” but there is no evidence of that exchange.
“If she said something she should not have said in retaliation and the heat of the moment, we do not condone that, and she regrets that but it does not give someone the right to break somebody’s body almost in half,” the attorney said.
“She’s a mixture of sad and angry right now,” he said. “Nobody deserves to be treated like that.”
Columbia police told The Tennessean its investigation was ongoing, and additional charges against other parties may be filed.
To view the footage, click the source below.
