WLKY
July 19, 2014
In just a matter of weeks, a man beaten and robbed in an area park will come face to face with one of the men he says attacked him.
According to police, the suspect was a juvenile at the time. But, the courts said Brejon Ford will now be tried as an adult when he goes to trial Sept. 9.
The victim, Joseph Rountree, said three others have not yet been arrested for the crime he said left him not only humiliated but physically injured.
“For a while I didn’t get out hardly at all. I just feel threatened every time I leave my house. I was afraid walking down the street somebody might grab me from behind,” said Rountree.
Rountree said he has lived in fear for the past 15 months.
It was at Okolona Park on April 12, 2013, when he went for a walk. He said the park was empty around 5 that evening when a group of young, black men were making their way to him.
“They were yelling ‘honky’ and ‘white boy,’ ‘cracker’ and ‘white trash,'” said Rountree.
He was beaten and knocked unconscious; doctors later discovered bleeding on the brain. The group, Rountree said, took his two cellphones and the $22 he had in his pocket.
“I believe they might have thought I looked like I was an easy target because I’m white, because they were calling me racial names,” said Rountree.
He said despite the fact there has been just one arrest and not four, he is ready for the trial.
“One is better than nothing, but the principle they did this to me and the thought of them getting away with it, it’s terrible,” he said, adding, “I want justice to be done.”