Dallas Bartender Charged With Assaulting Woman He Accused of Blocking Deep Ellum Parking Lot Exit

A Dallas bartender is suspected of assaulting a woman during an argument in Deep Ellum after he told her to move her vehicle, police say. Austin Shuffield, 30, has been charged with assault causing bodily injury and interference with an emergency call.Officers were called about 4:30 a.m. Thursday to the 2800 block of Elm Street, near North Crowdus Street, where the 24-year-old victim told police that she had been driving the wrong way down the street and had stopped. She said that Shuffield got out of his truck to ask her to move out of his way because she was blocking the parking lot exit, police said. The woman moved her vehicle into the parking lot and Shuffield got out of his. He approached her and the two began to argue, police said. The argument turned physical and Shuffield reportedly slapped the woman's phone out of her hand as she was trying to call 911. Video of the incident obtained by KTVT-TV (Channel 11) shows a man holding a gun as he talks to the woman. The man knocks the phone out of her hand and she hits him in the face.The man is then seen punching the woman at least five times in what appears to be her face or upper body. Police could not confirm whether Shuffield is the man in the video. Police did not have an update on the victim's condition. Her identity has not been released. Braxton Martin, the owner of High and Tight Barbershop about a block over from where the assault occurred, told KTVT-TV that Shuffield worked there as a bartender. What happened in the video was "horrific," he said.Shuffield has since been fired."We have finally [spoken] with police representatives and have terminated this employee," High and Tight said Thursday on Facebook. "We do not stand behind the actions that took place and hope that the full weight of the law comes down on this incident."Shuffield was being held in the Dallas County Jail on the two misdemeanor charges Thursday night. Bail had not been set.  Continue reading...