CBS 19
May 13, 2015
Two people are in custody, and more arrest are expected after a video surfaced capturing an attack a local Taco Bell.
Police Detective Greg Compton made the first two arrests in the fight case from Sunday May 11th. Several more arrests are expected in the near future and at this point the department has identified most of the participants in the assault.
The first two subjects were charged with Assault Class A which means that bodily injury occurred during the assault. At least one other suspect will be charged with the same offense and others will be charged with Disorderly Conduct.
Derrick Tatum, age 18 of Jacksonville and Deverick Tatum, also 18 and of Jacksonville were arrested, arraigned and charged with Class A Assault. They were then transferred to the Cherokee County jail.
We expect to make several more arrests as the case develops and will release information as it becomes available.
UPDATE: JACKSONVILLE (KYTX) – Jacksonville Chief of Police Reece Daniel has released a statement following a brutal attack that was caught on camera at a local Taco Bell.
Despite a seven second video that has gone viral that purports to show several black males stomping and hitting a lone white male at a local restaurant our department did an initial investigation prior to talking to the media.
At this point we anticipate filing charges against several people ranging from Disorderly Conduct to Assault on subjects both White and Black. While the tape clearly shows an assault taking place there are many other factors and actions that we must investigate.
As the investigation progresses we will release names and ages of the various suspects and the charges we will be filing. We have already made one arrest close to the scene for DWI on a suspect who was trying to escape.
One thing I want to be clear about is that this was not a roaming band of black males assaulting white males and this incident was precipitated by one of the White suspects. Alcohol was also involved.
While I personally find it cowardly that several people were involved in the assault on the young man on the ground please let me point out that this seven second video contains no audio so we have no way of knowing what the male on the ground was saying at the time or if he was making the problem worse. Officers talked to him at the scene and he refused to file any charges. This victim had two friends with him.