Charlottesville police arrest fourth person in connection with assault of DeAndre Harris
Earlier this week, Charlottesville police arrested a fourth person in connection with the assault of DeAndre Harris.
Harris was beaten by a group of men near a parking garage on the day of the Charlottesville rallies and protests last August.
In a statement released by the Charlottesville Police Department, authorities said that they had arrested Tyler Watkins Davis, 49, and charged him with malicious wounding. He was arrested Wednesday and is being held at Clay County Jail in Green Springs Cove, Florida, awaiting extradition to Charlottesville.
The assault of DeAndre Harris
Harris was attacked while counterprotesting the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville in August of last year.
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Harris, 20, said that he was with friends counter protesting the “Unite the Right” rally when a group of white supremacists rushed him. One of them began to beat him with a pole, an act that was captured on camera by photographer Zach D. Roberts as Harris knelt on the ground.
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“Me and about five of my friends were out protesting. We thought (the racists) left, but at one point they came back,” Harris said in an interview with The Root.
He insisted that his group of friends did nothing to escalate the situation into physical violence. “Everyone was exchanging words with the group, but then the KKK and white supremacists just rushed us,” he said, adding that “no police were there to help me at all,” despite the fact that the event took place right outside the Charlottesville Police Department.
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After the attack, Harris had eight stitches in his head, a broken wrist, lacerations and a chipped tooth. A GoFundMe page was later created to help pay for medical costs.
On the page, he described how he was “knocked unconscious repeatedly” and that he “was knocked back down” each time he tried to get up again.
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