Soldier mom beaten in front of daughter at Cracker Barrel

Cracker Barrel Beating May Be Hate Crime
Posted: 6:15 am EDT September 16, 2009
Updated: 1:15 pm 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.

VIDEO: Man Charged In Cracker Barrel Attack


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.
read more here
http://www.wsbtv.com/news/20940073/detail.html
linked from CNN


UPDATE
Feds probe attack on reservist as hate crime

By Dorie Turner - The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Sep 16, 2009 13:02:02 EDT

ATLANTA — The beating of a black female Army reservist outside a Georgia restaurant is being investigated as a possible hate crime, federal authorities said Wednesday.

Tashawnea Hill was kicked and punched by a white man Sept. 9 as he screamed racial slurs outside a Cracker Barrell in Morrow, about 15 miles southeast of Atlanta, police said. Troy D. West, 47, became enraged when Hill told him to be careful after he nearly hit her 7-year-old daughter while opening the restaurant’s door, police said.

FBI spokesman Stephen Emmett said the Justice Department’s civil rights division has initiated a probe into the incident.

Hill, who was taken to the hospital after the incident, said Wednesday that she is still in shock.

“I haven’t been able to sleep since then,” she said in a telephone interview on the way to the doctor’s office. “My major concern is that my daughter is OK. Mommy will heal up. Mommy will get better, but she’s the future.”
read more of this here
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/09/ap_reservist_attacked_091609/