Updated – Troy Dale West is a Racist Who Beat Up a Female Army Reservist

If you’re ever having car trouble down in south Georgia between Albany and Tifton, try not to stop at Troy’s Paint & Body & Auto Salvage on Highway 82, particularly if you are an American serviceman or happen to be black because the racist that owns the place just might try to beat you to a pulp, particularly if you are a female. If you are interested in the number I had posted here just do a search on Google.

Tasha Hill and her seven-year-old daughter had just finished eating at the Cracker Barrel in Morrow, Georgia around 7:30 PM last Wednesday and were on the way out to their car when 46-year-old Troy Dale West, owner of Troy’s in Poulan GA, entered the restaurant banging the door open so hard it almost hit the Hill’s daughter. She told West “Sir, you almost hit my daughter with the door, could you please be more careful?”

West allegedly responded by telling her she needed to “watch her fucking daughter” and then yelled “You’re a fucking black nigger bitch” and punched her in the face. Falling to the ground she was punched in the head and face while her distraught daughter stood there crying.

The folks at the Cracker Barrel called the police and and after officers showed up and took statements from witnesses and watched the surveillance tapes they arrested West and charged him with Battery, Disorderly Conduct and Cruelty to Children. He’s since bonded out of jail and I assume he’s taken his racist yellow ass slinking on back down to Poulan where he can regale his buddies with tales of how he beat up a black woman in front of her kid.

All the while he was punching her the Hill was asking him to stop and telling the man that she is a U.S. Soldier. I guess for Troy Dale West the service that our brave men and women provide for us just doesn’t matter.

The case has been referred to the FBI Civil Rights Division for a possible violation of the Federal Hate Crime laws.

You know what really gets me though? Nobody helped the woman. What about all the concerned assholes sitting in the restaurant and/or working there. Why didn’t at least one of them jump West and get him off the woman? Bunch of pussies.

Updated 9/16/09 – This is starting to get interesting. A Clayton County Magistrate judge dropped the felony cruelty to children charge down to a misdemeanor and now the DA has gotten involved and is saying that “We’re reviewing the police reports and talking to witneses to determine whether felony charges should be presented to the grand jury”. The Clayton County Solicitor (who prosecutes misdemeanors) sent the case to the DA because they felt that West should face aggravated assault charges. Most of the time aggravated assault means that someone has attacked you with a weapon but there are precedents that the hand can be used as a deadly weapon.

The FBI has also launched a preliminary investigation into the possibility of this being a hate crime.

West is scheduled to be back in court on September 28th.

In only slightly related news the AJC now has the info online that I posted yesterday about Troy West’s business.

Update II 9/17/09 – One of the things that was in the AJC story that I didn’t have time to put in here yesterday is some stuff from West’s statement as well as the interview his mother gave.

According to West, Hill spit on him and wasn’t nearly as nice with her comment to him as she made it out to be. The witnesses said that they never saw her spit on him. I am also sure that the way she spoke to him probably wasn’t nearly as nice as what she’s made it out to be but the bottom line is that the way West reacted is inexcusable. Even had she provoked him there is still no excuse for his behavior.

Also according to the AJC article I linked to yesterday as well as Bob in the comments, the manager of the Cracker Barrell stepped in to break up the violence, so there was at least someone there who was trying to help.

Update III 9/17/09 – The FBI is working with the Clayton County DA’s Office to see about bringing more charges against West.

Also Tasha Hill interviewed with CBS Atlanta earlier this evening. You can find the video here.

Update IV – Cracker Barrel has banned Troy West from all of their restaurants for life.

Update V 9/18/09 – Now a bunch of so-called civil-rights leaders are getting involved in this story. Most of them are a bunch of damned morons if you ask me, particularly that criminal Al Sharpton. I’ve posted about Sharpton and what a racist he is in the past, although not recently and my opinion of him and the Rainbow Coalition has not changed.

Now they are jumping on the Cracker Barrel and wanting to know where the security video is, claiming that Cracker Barrell is hiding something, etc…I can guarantee that the police and DA most likely have a copy of the security video and like most private businesses it’s Cracker Barrel’s policy not to release stuff like that to the general public. My company does the same thing.

I know I mentioned a couple of times above that the FBI is investigating this as a hate crime but I don’t think it should be treated any differently than any other beating. The fact that West beat a female serviceman should be enough. He may have been a bit more willing to do so because she’s black, who knows? I certainly don’t. I’m not in the least defending West. His actions tell us he’s a scumbag, but a simple felony charge of Assault should be enough.

A report over at CBS is now saying that Cracker Barrel employees rushed to Hill’s aid, which is nice to hear.

Update VI  9/23/09 – A Clayton County Grand Jury returned a seven count indictment today in the case against Troy West. The charges are Felony Aggravated Asault, Felony False Imprisonment, Cruelty to Children, two counts of battery and two counts of disorderly conduct. He is being held with no bond.

Update VII 10/27/09 – A bond hearing for Troy West was supposed to have taken place this morning in Clayton County. I don’t yet know the results of that hearing but will update this tonight once I find out. The DA told the judge that they consider West a flight risk and asked her to deny bond but Tony Axam, Troy Dale West’s attorney, said that the only reason he was still in jail is because he attacked a black woman. Judge Geronda V. Carter has said that she will need to review the evidence before ruling on the bond issue. Another update around 5:30PM. West has been granted $320,500 bond. He has to wear an ankle monitor, have no contact with the victim or any witnesses and can’t travel to Clayton County at all except to go to the airport, court, travelling through in I-75 or to meet with his attorney. He has also been ordered to surrender his passport.

Some details of West’s criminal history are starting to trickle out as well. He was charged with simple battery and terroristic threats in 1998 after he attacked a cashier at K-Mart  who wouldn’t accept his phony receipts for some Matchbox cars he was trying to collect. After the attack he ran away and police arrested him at the Waffle House where he was hiding in the bathroom with a pistol like a good little tough guy.

Cracker Barrel released a statement back on September 23rd that I didn’t catch when I posted my last update. Here is the c
ontent of the statement,

Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc. is pleased that the Clayton
County Grand Jury has returned indictments against the man accused of
assaulting a woman who was entering one of its Georgia stores on
September 9, 2009. Cracker Barrel is encouraged to know that its
cooperation with authorities helped secure these indictments because
Cracker Barrel wants to see justice served.

Cracker Barrel will
continue to cooperate with the Clayton County District Attorney’s
office through this criminal proceeding. The Company has provided the
district attorney with surveillance video as part of this case. The
video shows how Cracker Barrel came to the victim’s aid, and that a
Cracker Barrel manager put himself in harm’s way to provide aid to the
victim. Company policy allows the release of surveillance video only to
law enforcement officials and as required by law.In media
interviews following today’s hearing, the district attorney praised
Cracker Barrel for its cooperation, and reiterated her request not to
release the video to the public because it would unduly influence the
jury pool that will ultimately hear the case.

I will continue to update this post as new information is released

Update 7/16/2010 – The trial has been moved again and West won’t be going to court until at least October.

Source.