The Dallas County district attorney has dropped charges against a Black woman who was savagely beaten by a white bartender in a road rage incident that went viral on social media.
L’Daijohnique Lee, 24, will not face charges for causing property damage to Austin Shuffield’s truck after he pistol whipped her and punched her in the face.
Shuffield was angry that Lee’s car was blocking a parking lot exit behind the barbershop where he worked.
Shuffield, 30, was initially charged with minor misdemeanor assault. But after the public backlash to video footage of the assault, the district attorney upgraded Shuffield’s charges to felony aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
The footage showed Shuffield holding a handgun while arguing with Lee.
The district attorney sparked more public outrage when he announced Lee would be charged with shattering Shuffield’s truck windshield after he punched her.
“We understand that some people are upset,” Dallas Deputy Police Chief Thomas Castro said at a news conference on Tuesday.
He announced the charges against L’Daijohnique Lee were dropped.
“It’s not the intention of the Dallas Police Department to pick one side or the other,” he said. “We simply had information that was provided to us on a criminal offense.”
Shuffield, who is currently out on bail, was fired from his job as a bartender at the High and Tight Barbershop and Speakeasy in the historically racist Deep Ellum neighborhood of Dallas.
He shaved his beard after his charges were upgraded. Friends say he lives under constant threat of bodily harm or death.
Suspected white supremacist Austin Shuffield, who brutally beat a Black woman in Dallas, has shaved his beard. He was released from jail for a second time. He was scared to leave from the front of the building because ppl from the community were waiting for him.
— Tariq Nasheed ?? (@tariqnasheed) March 30, 2019
