Austin Shuffield a white Texas bartender faces potential hate crime charges after video caught him beating and racially assaulting black woman, L’Daijohnique Lee.
A white Texas bartender has been fired after video (see below) caught the man allegedly beating up a black woman along with the man verbally abusing with racial epithets in a carpark, early Wednesday morning.
Austin Shuffield, 24, of Dallas was charged with aggravated assault, interference with a 911 call and public intoxication, all misdemeanors, following the incident the Dallas Morning News reported.
Police say Shuffield- who until recently worked at Deep Ellum’s High and Tight Barbershop was seen on video savagely punching a black woman identified as L’Daijohnique Lee, 24.
Police were called to the scene of the attack at 4.26am Wednesday.
Hate crime charges may now be in the offering.
Austin Shuffield, a white supremacist from Dallas, TX, pulled a gun on a Black woman over a parking spot.
Hurling racial epithets, he knocked her phone away & beat her mercilessly.
She’s been hospitalized with cranial swelling and a concussion.
These bigots are out of control. pic.twitter.com/YI6wCYSYEn
— Bishop Talbert Swan (@TalbertSwan) March 22, 2019
Austin Shuffield hate crime charges?
The video shot by a bystander went viral on social media and caught the attention of high-profile civil rights attorney Lee Merritt, who contacted the victim and says he is working with her to ensure her attacker is held accountable.
The civil rights attorney said Lee was still recovering in the hospital Friday morning after suffering a concussion and ‘cranial swelling.’
He also said the initial charges against Shuffield weren’t severe enough for what he was seen doing on video.
‘Our office is speaking with the Dallas Police Department and the Dallas County District Attorney’s office to ensure all appropriate charges are pursued, including felony assault, firearm and hate crime-related charges,’ Merritt told via the dailymail.
Lee said Shuffield confronted her for driving the wrong way down a one-way street and blocking a parking lot exit with her vehicle while he was trying to leave the lot.
When she tried to leave the scene, she said Shuffield blocked her path with his vehicle before getting out to berate her.
That was the moment a bystander starting filming the incident with his smart phone camera.
Video showed Shuffield pulling a handgun from his waste band while arguing with Lee, who responds by pulling out her cell phone to call 911.
‘I was scared. I was like, “You got a gun?”‘ Lee told WFAA after the incident. ‘The first thing I could think of was to call the police.’
In the video, Shuffield is seen knocking the phone out of Lee’s hand, prompting her to punch him. He retaliates by punching Lee in the face at least five times, even after she curled up and covered her face in submission.
‘He charged at me and just kept going. I was just like saying, “OK OK,” as he’s hitting me like, “OK,”‘ Lee said.
Shuffield then kicked Lee’s phone into the street.
‘You’re in big trouble bro,’ a bystander can be heard saying on the video.
‘Hey bro, chill bro, that’s a female,’ the man filming the incident says next before the video cuts off.
L’Daijohnique Lee: ‘It was the worse night of my life’.
Prior to the incident, Shuffield worked as a bartender at High & Tight Barbershop, a combination barbershop and bar located in Dallas’s Deep Ellum neighborhood not far from where the attack occurred.
The outlet released a statement after the incident saying they fired Shuffield.
‘We have finally spoke with police representatives and have terminated this employee,’ the company said in a post on its Facebook page. ‘We do not stand behind the actions that took place and hope that the full weight of the law comes down on this incident.’
Lee told WFAA the incident was the worst night of her life.
‘Why you put your hands on me like that?’ she said of Shuffield. ‘You literally sat there and beat me like a man.’
Not immediately understood is what inspired Austin Shuffield to target his victim and whether the attack on the woman was predicated on the color of her skin.
