MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The video is disturbing.
An ice cream truck driver is forced out of his truck and beaten down with a bat.
“They jumped me and take a bat and hit me with the bat,” said Mamadou Bah.
He told WREG he is lucky to be alive after being flagged down for what he thought was an ice cream stop inside the Bella Vista Apartments around 7:30 Tuesday night.
“This hand is broken because they hit me with a metal bat,” said Bah.
He said one man jumped in and started beating him, causing his ice cream truck to wreck.
Then two others joined in the attack.
The stunning video shows them swinging bats across Bah’s head and busting out the ice cream van windows.
He said he never saw the attackers before, but thinks he knows why they hit him.
“Just to take my money and kill me, that’s it,” he said.
He said they took $480.
Bah was able to get up and get help.
He spent several hours at the hospital and is at home with a broken arm and swollen face.
We found his truck, with busted windows, back at the Frosty Treat Ice Cream lot.
Not only has the video blown up on Facebook, but so have accusations about Bah.
Some on social media and in the apartment complex are calling him a child predator.
“Last week they say he was trying to pick up a girl in the apartments, in the back. So when they saw him come in here, they got him,” said Patricia Veasley, who lives in the area of the attack.
Bah said it’s not true, and we found no evidence of it being true.
We asked if he had been in trouble with police before.
“No No No,” said Bah.
We checked Bah’s background and only found a vehicle registration charge.
His employer at Frosty Treats Ice Cream said Bah has worked for him for nine years without any problem.
“Mamadou is a pretty good person and I stand behind him 100%,” said Ronald Shaw, Frosty Treats’ Manager.
Frosty Treats has made headlines before.
In 2013, WREG looked into a complaint by a mom who said an ice cream truck driver was approaching kids and handing out more than cold treats.
“The next thing you know they coming in screaming and I’m like what’s wrong? And they’re like ice cream man just told me he raped and killed all the kids on the street,” one mother told us in 2013.
Managers said the accusation was unfounded and did not involve Mamamdou Bah.
“If you have any complaint with a customer or a driver come to me. Call police or anything, but these vigilante groups, this stuff has got to stop,” said Shaw.
“Justice. I want justice. I did nothing to them. They came and beat me and take my money and broke the truck,” said Bah.
Police are still searching for the suspects in the attack.
If you can help police catch the culprits, you are urged to call CrimeStoppers at (901) 528-CASH.
