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:
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.
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.