Elliott Reed was riding his bicycle Friday morning around a neighborhood in Seabrook, Texas when he was allegedly attacked out of nowhere.
The suspect beat him until he was unconscious.
“I can’t open this eye. There’s trauma to the back of the eye as well. I got five stitches. My lip is busted and he chipped my tooth,” he told Fox 26 Houston.
As Reed, 50, recovers at home, the police continue to investigate the incident.
The incident occurred October 29 while Reed was taking a rest on the corner of Lakeside Drive and Hampton Strings Drive, a few blocks from where he’s lived for three years, in Seabrook.
While resting a man he claimed he’s never met before approached him in a vehicle and told him to leave.
Collin Fries, 25, reportedly told Reed, ‘You need to get off of this corner because you’re making everybody nervous,’” Reed told KPRC.
Reed began recording him, and that’s when Fries exited his vehicle and began walking towards him.
‘Are you the law, sir?’
Witnesses said they heard Fries make racist comments before he attacked Reed.
Since Reed was recording on his phone he captured some of the attack on video. The video ended right at he fell over his bicycle when Fries rushed towards him.
“The last thing I remember is hitting my head and I went out,” he said.
Fries has been charged with a misdemeanor assault, though Reed’s wife, Angie wants to see the charges upgraded. They believe it should be considered a hate crime because Reed is Black.
“We are still in the initial stages of the review of this incident. What happens with regard to whether a charge is increased or a hate crime enhancement is added, will depend upon the totality of the evidence,” the Harris County District Attorney’s Office said in a statement.
While Reed insisted he did not know the suspect, Fries’ mother said she believes Reed initially insulted her son and his sisters.
Seabrook police chief Sean Wright also stated there was a previous “conflict” between the two, which didn’t equate to a hate crime.
Violence is never the answer. If Collin Fries felt threatened, he should have left the area or contacted police.
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