Somebody better call T.I. because that Texas assault case he's been talking about has taken a turn. If you haven't been keeping up with what's going on in the second largest state in the Union, a few weeks ago a black woman named L'Daijohnique Lee was meeting up with a friend in Dallas when she parked her car, got out, and was confronted by a white man, 30-year-old Austin Shuffield.
Shuffield didn't like the way Lee parked and the two briefly argued before Lee tried to make her way away from the scene. Shuffield then pointed a gun at her, threatened her, knocked her phone out of her hand when she said she was calling for help, and then began repeatedly punching her in the face. The violent attack was caught on video by a witness and the video quickly went viral. Rapper T.I. spoke out about the assault, calling on rappers and hip hop influencers in Dallas to come forward and handle business, but it doesn't seem anyone has answered his call.
Meanwhile, Shuffield was arrested and charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and unlawfully carrying a weapon. He's made bond and was released from jail. Lee, however, may catch a case of her own for breaking Shuffield's back window with "a jump box, a charger for a car battery" after he punched her. Dallas police charged the 24-year-old woman today with felony criminal mischief because the estimated damage was $3,000. Lee admitted to police that she was responsible.
Lee Merritt, Lee's attorney, took to Twitter to post about his frustration regarding the charges. "A black woman alone in a dark parking lot is stalked, harassed and assaulted by a white male," Merritt said. "He brandishes a gun, knocks away her phone when she tries to call for help – then beats her mercilessly with blows to the head. DPD just found a way to charge HER with a felony."
Deputy Chief Thomas Castro held a press conference regarding the new charges and said, "We understand that some people are upset. It's not the intention of the Dallas Police Department to pick one side or the other. We simply had information that was provided to us on a criminal offense. We thoroughly investigated that offense. We took the action that was taken today."
