ATOKA, Tenn. — Dayshia Eddings couldn’t believe her eyes. She and her friend watched from the car as the Kroger parking lot in Atoka suddenly became the scene of a violent attack.
“Sick,” Eddings said.
Police say it all started around noon when a 59-year-old man with a cane walked up to a woman sitting in her car and asked for directions. When she answered things took a violent turn.
“He started hitting her with the cane through her window,” Eddings said.
Police say the woman put her car in reverse and tried to get away but couldn’t and crashed into the vehicle behind her. They say her attacker didn’t let up and tried to kidnap her.
“She started to try and kick at him, but he grabbed her leg and pulled her up out the car,” Eddings said.
Eddings says the assailant stopped and walked to his van when witnesses came to help the victim.
“He walked to his car like it wasn’t nothing and left,” she said.
Eddings says she and her friend followed him and called police, keeping dispatch updated on which streets he was passing. An officer caught up to the van within minutes and took the alleged attacker into custody. He’s facing aggravated assault and attempted kidnapping charges.
At this point, police don’t know why the woman was attacked, but they think alcohol may have played a role. They say the assailant was drunk when they found him.
“There’s no excuse at all for you to hurt a lady like that to try to kidnap a lady like that,” Eddings says.
Eddings is glad she and her friend were able to help police.
“I feel like if it wasn’t for us they wouldn’t have found him, because they didn’t know which direction he was going in.”
The attack, however, is burned into her mind forever.
“Scary. Yes. I won’t go nowhere by myself. Nowhere.”
Police say the assailant is also facing a DUI charge for driving drunk.
