Austin Shuffield, the man accused of a beating caught on camera in Deep Ellum, was indicted on four charges Thursday by a Dallas County grand jury.
Shuffield was accused in March of beating L'Daijohnique Lee in a parking lot outside a Deep Ellum bar. A bystander recorded video of the incident that was soon shared online.
Shuffield now faces a felony charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, felony obstruction/retaliation, misdemeanor assault and misdemeanor unlawful carrying of a weapon.
Police said Shuffield confronted Lee after the woman pulled into the parking lot to avoid driving the wrong way on one-way Elm Street. In the video, the man can be seen slapping the woman's phone out of her hand. She retaliates and hits him once; the man then punches her five times before walking away and kicking her phone.
In a news conference in March, Lee said she suffered a concussion in the attack and other injuries including swelling in her jaw, a black eye and an injury to her ear. Her attorney, Lee Merritt, said at the time she had been to the emergency room three times since the attack and had received referrals to a facial surgeon and a psychiatrist.
Lee said Shuffield walked around her car, photographed her license plate and may have learned where she lived. Merritt said his client felt unsafe inside her home and had been staying in a hotel. Merritt said in March the gun Shuffield was seen carrying in the video, his use of a racial slur and past social media posts all supported making the case against him a hate crime.
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On the night of the attack, Shuffield worked at a nearby business and, after the video was played publicly, was fired.
