David Knighten added: “I do remember racial slurs being yelled from the crowd.”
A rural Mississippi man suffered life-threatening injuries and required brain surgery after he entered a Waffle House despite receiving a warning not to enter the restaurant because of the color of his skin.
The severe beating occurred early Sunday morning around 2 a.m., reports The Clarion-Ledger. Up to 20 assailants participated.
The injured man is Ralph Weems IV, a veteran of the Iraq War and a Marine. He is white.
The altercation began at about 1 a.m. when Weems and a friend, David Knighten, chose to go inside the Waffle House. They made this decision after a man in the parking lot diplomatically suggested that they should leave because the patrons inside were angry about the Aug. 9 police shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo. Thus, the unidentified man explained, the restaurant would not be a safe place for two white people.
According to Knighten, Weems, 32, began arguing with customers not long after he entered the Waffle House. It’s not clear what was said or what was in dispute. After the police eventually showed up, Weems and Knighten left.
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