Courtez McMillian, 22, is facing aggravated assault charges, West Point police say. (WAPT)
Ralph Weems IV, a Marine who had served in Iraq, was reported in fair condition at a Tupelo hospital Sunday after a brutal beating outside a Huddle House in West Point, Mississippi. Weems and his friend David Knighten, who served in Afghanistan, were jumped by a group of black men who they were told were upset about the Michael Brown shooting death in Ferguson, Missouri.
Detectives are reviewing video footage of the beating.
WAPT reported:
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West Point Police Chief Tim Brinkley said an Okolona man has been arrested in an assault that seriously injured a man. Brinkley said he expects more arrests.
Brinkley said in a news release Monday that Courtez McMillian, 22, is in the Clay County Jail pending charges of aggravated assault.
He said most if not all the people on a list of suspects are from adjoining Monroe County
David Knighten, of West Point, said he and Ralph Weems IV apparently were followed from a Waffle House where Weems had argued with African-American patrons to a Huddle House. Knighten said a man outside the first restaurant told him it wasn’t safe for white people.
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Ralph Weems was injured in an altercation over the weekend. Witnesses say the attack may have been racially motivated. (Photo: Facebook)
David Knighten, an Air Force veteran from Afghanistan, told reporters that a man told him politely outside the restaurant that it wasn’t a safe place for whites, because people were upset by the killing of 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.
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