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<h1 class="Headline">Cracker Barrel Beating May Be Hate Crime</h1>Posted: 6:15 am EDT September 16, 2009Updated: 11:05 am EDT September 16, 2009

MORROW, Ga. -- The FBI is investigating the beating of an African-American woman by a white man at a Cracker Barrel restaurant as a possible hate crime.Morrow police said they arrested Troy Dale West, of Poulan, Ga. after he attacked Tasha Hill after she asked him to "be careful" at a Cracker Barrel restaurant.

Morrow police were called to the Cracker Barrel restaurant on Southlake Plaza Drive in Morrow Sept. 9 at 7:30 p.m.Upon arrival, officers said they located the female victim and called for EMTs and Fire Department officials to assist. At the same time, the alleged offender in the case, Troy West, was detained at the scene, police said.Police said an investigation revealed that the female victim, identified as Tasha Hill, was entering the Cracker Barrel with her 7-year-old daughter as West was leaving the restaurant.

As West was leaving, the exit door came close to striking the 7-year-old daughter of the victim, police said. Hill, by all witness accounts, politely asked West to be careful, officials said."The man slung open the door pretty hard and fast and I had to push my daughter out of the way. I turned to the man and I just said, 'Excuse me sir, you need to watch yourself you almost hit my daughter in the face.' And from there it just went downhill," said Hill.

At that point, West became enraged and began to beat the victim in front of her 7-year-old daughter, according to police. Hill said she told West she was an Army servicemember and she did not want any trouble.West threw her to the ground and hit her in the head with his fists and feet, police said. During the exchange, witnesses said West could be heard screaming racial slurs at the victim."Then he punched me in my face," said Hill. "And I fell to the ground and he proceeded to punch in my head and face."

Many witnesses stepped up to assist police in the investigation by providing written statements as to the events that transpired. Cracker Barrel was also helpful to police in this investigation, Morrow police said.This case has been referred to the FBI Civil Rights Division for a possible violation of Federal Hate Crime Laws.

Once officers obtained witness statements on the scene and looked at video surveillance from the Cracker Barrel, West was arrested and charged with battery, disorderly conduct, and cruelty to children in the first degree.West has bonded out of jail.

What a jackas$! Even if the tone was not quite as 'polite' as was explained there is no reason to act like that, especialy in front of a child. Any man that beats a woman is not a man.

Hate crime or not he's a fuzzin bastiage for assaulting a woman like that,especially in front of her child.

With ALL those witnesses don't you think someone would have stepped in to help that poor woman that was getting beaten by that man????? Don't ya think????

If it was a hate crime against color it's hard to say, but it sure was a crime of hate against another human being!!!

Good point hotty,you'd figure someone would have the least amount of decency to help a woman.

I don't know you tell me.

The only thing I can tell from that story is the woman is a saint that probably could walk on water and the guy charged beat her up for just being polite and black. There's absolutely no information on the guy other than he made bail. While the article gives the semblance of conversation, it's one sided and only two lines that normally wouldn't escalate a dog to take a bone from your hand.

I couldn't venture to tell you who hit whom first let alone does the charge fit the crime. This guy could be the Grand Dragon of the KKK or a Baptist Minister, I don't know.

What I will tell you is finding a solider in the US Army that's mild mannered to the point they get beat up and don't fight back would very unusual and they should probably seek a new vocation.

There's not enough to that story to even get a good argument out of me one way or the other. You could speculate that one with enough "What ifs" to write a few books.

It comes down to trust the system they are doing the right thing or not really.

The article is written in a way to solicit an emotional response and that it should do quite well.

Tj

I agree the crime was wrong. No doubt.

Now, I'm not in the military, but don't they teach hand to hand combat in basic training? This woman is an active duty soldier and couldn't defend herself?

Tell me if I'm off base here.

IIRC it is illegal for service members to protect themselves,i have a friend that defended himself during an attempted robbery,he beat the guy pretty bad in the scuffle and was aressted for it.

You would think that she would have some capacity to defend herself, military training or not. Especialy considering her child may have been in danger as well.
I personaly would have a hard time watching a man beat up a woman no matter what the circumstancesmay be. I think that I would have no choice but to step in where I do not belong.

OK, You got me to research it.

The woman is an officer which means you probably couldn't whip her child successfully let alone a 215 lb Redneck. Women officers don't even take the same training as women enlisted personnel and a good chance, especially looking at her physique, she has zero combat training or heck very little physical training.

Looking at the store, like all Cracker Barrels the door is half wood so the suspect would not have seen the child on the other side of the door as he exited. The victim and child by the story and description had to been on the outside in front of the exit door. There's no explanation of how they got into the foyer. Living here in the state that's Cracker Barrels headquarters, that door design has been a topic of discussion and area for safety lawsuits for quite some time.

Though no apparent wounds on her face, the victim is already claiming permanent tingling down her right arm and very careful to only say, it escalated with no details of what was said after the first two lines. I'd say she's been properly coached. The hospital trip was most likely due to her claiming a temporary black out which would be SOP at that point.

I could still find no information on the suspect other than white age 47 6.2" 215 lbs and a facial picture of a long graying haired man with a well groomed short beard. The victim is a short heavy set black woman which appears to be much younger.

Just from pictures, the whole thing seems strange. The guy doesn't strike me as a bubba type but more of a Charlie Daniels type and neither does the victim strike me as the demanding welfare type. Oh well, I guess you can never tell by looking at folks.

The story is being picked up by every predominate black major city news service in the south but all pretty much a rehash of the Morrow story word for word.

There's definitely more to this story but that big a man using his fists on that small of a woman, it isn't going well for him in the south, no matter what color anyone was.

Tj

What the F#@$!, since when did this start! Who arrested him Cops or MP's? Civil charge ,or UCMJ?Half my platoon would have been in jail any given weekend.

Yup i think its hog shat too,but its the what he told me.Worst thing about it is he had just got back home from iraq,shot once in the head and chest,and he is one of four different OIF vets to tell me this so there has to be some truth of it.

BTW, If you just want some impressions.

I don't buy the victims story. It appears more like upset mom which would be natural over a door almost hitting her child and guy feeling how the hell would he know a child was there and mom should have kept an eye on the child type thing. Its obvious from her statement she said way more than "Excuse me" after who knows what the guy said.

Who hit who firs the video will show but who won isn't in question.

Personally I find it appalling this thing is being picked up by every predominate black news service faster than you can say Jakie Robinson and the blogs are already doing headlines like "Sister takes a beating from white" and "A black person if not beat by policeman gets beat by white man." Its being used to push racial divide by the left.

On the right, its the typical condemnation of this guy and wondering how it will be twisted to both push racial unrest as well how the media will somehow twist this guy to being a Tea Party guy.

Meanwhile here were are in the Knoxville area with the murder trial of a lifetime where a group of blacks kidnapped, tortured, raped, and killed two young white people showing them off to their friends with comments like "I didn't call the police because she was white so deserved it." that the national news won't touch the story unless its some out of state hate group from MO that threatened to do a protest which never happened. The details of this crime would have made national news had the parties been the same race no matter what race.

The media is pushing racial divide and pushing one direction.

OK, I'll get down off my soap box now.

Tj

What strike me?

I dunno. Probably the high number of posters on this board who'd be instantly killed in almost any domestic violence shooting scenario involving a crying woman. Because they were unable to wrap their heads around the Idea that a woman with a gun can kill you just as dead as a man with a gun.

Female posters like Hotshot take note. If you ever need to kill one of these women on a pedestal type's for some reason. Just Sob a little, look demure, wipe a tear from your cheek...and then when they tunnel vision on the first other male they see as the perp...Just walk up behind. Stick a .38 snub in the back of Alpha male/knight in shining armors head and blow his male ego right out though the front of his forehead.

It'd be as easy as getting a beer or making a sammich with some of these guys.



This post has been edited by EvoPsych: September 16th 2009 6:25 PM

What strikes me, is the coverage that this will receive, against the coverage the school bus incident will receive. Both appear on their face as racially motivated, but you'll only hear about one of them.

As anti discrimination as I am, I have a serious issue with the case. The fact that there is such a thing as "hate crime" This has become a one sided issue as stated above. It seems that hate crimes can only be perpetrated by white male adults against any one else. It seems to be more of a "reparation for slavery" issue than reality. The fact that this guy beat her (regardless of the cause) is enough. If the size difference is as TJ (not doubting him) posted, then he could have merely pushed her out of his way and moved on had she hit him first. He does seem to have anger issues or a lack of self control. As to ending up in the foyer, remember that cracker barrel has a double set of doors and it could have been the interior set that was at issue. I know that on several occasions some one has come out of the door suddenly when I was reaching to open it. Some times people will have their hands full with store purchases (For those like in cali that don't have a cracker barrel, it is a restaurant with a country store attached and a single common entrance 6' wide with 2 sets of double doors creating a foyer) and will back into the door to open it. I have never had an argument or personal issue when that happened.

Right now, the press is hyping racial issues with Obama being President in order to denounce any one that disagrees with him. Look at the "you lie" incident. Comments like "I could hear the unspoken 'boy' in his comment like 'you lied boy'" from one legislator. (can't remember her name right now) This is seriously increasing racial tensions. The race baiters are creating racial tension based on non racial issues. It could very well be that this guy had been reading the paper while there and gotten seriously PO'd at some of the crap written and she smarted off to him at the wrong time and in the wrong way (which still does not justify a "beating") Again, as TJ said, you could fill volumes with what wasn't written. I will not believe any part of the original article unless I see the surveillance video from the store.

I have 20 years in and have never heard that. Nor heard of it. It sounds like somthing sombody dreamed up after watching "Con Air". I can also tell you that Army hand to hand will get you in more trouble that 30 minutes of "Kung Fu" theater. First thing the drills said was "use this in the bar and you will go out with your nads in a sling" Just because a person is in the military does not mean that they surrender the right of self protection.

Hmmm...

A white kid gets beat down on a school bus and the majority assumes he was completely innocent. A black woman gets beat down in a Cracker Barrel and the majority questions her intentions.

<sigh>

We have seen the video of the bus incident. We are not questioning the woman at the cracker barrel, just the completeness and accuracy of the report. We want the whole story. I will say this about the bus. We do NOT know what was said before the incident, so I am still holding judgement on the original attack. The followup attack was definitely wrong and the bus driver should have taken immediate action to stop what was happening.

This post has been edited by pleaforwar: September 16th 2009 9:23 PM