An Atlanta family returned from a Mother's Day weekend battered and bruised after a fight at a busy tourist location. Today, the Savannah-Catham County Police are disputing what lead up to the brawl.
"It was my first time in Savannah," Jim Thomas said.
"We were just in Savannah enjoying Mother's Day weekend. My niece graduated with honors from Georgia Southern," his brother-in-law Rob Gray added.
If you've been to Savannah, you've likely been to River Street. The pedestrian cobblestone walkway winds by the river, past shops and bars. Street performers and artists join meandering tourists and locals. It was crowded Saturday night at 9:30 when Gray says they were attacked.
The Atlanta family says an aggressive man pushed his way through the slow-moving crowd, and turned to stare at Gray. He insists he tried to talk the stranger out of his fighting mood: "He said I disrespected him. He kept antagonizing the situation. I said, I'm here with my family. We didn't mean any disrespect and don't want any problems." Thomas and Gray say while words were being exchanged, they were jumped from behind.
The men say they were punched and kicked. Other members of the family were scratched, hit, and punched. "My six-year-old daughter was attacked and punched by an adult male," Thomas told 11Alive.
"There was no police anywhere in site," he said. "People scattered. No one would help."
11Alive obtained surveillance video from River Street showing the fight. The video shows a man in a red shirt pass through a crowd including the Atlanta families. A man in a yellow shirt is ushering him forward. The video shows Gray saying something to the man, and words exchanged between them. Gray told 11Alive's Julie Wolfe he was telling the man to keep walking and he would go in another direction. He said he was, again, trying to diffuse the situation. Gray turns his back on the man.
The man in the red shirt runs back and the fight begins. The fight happened right outside a Visitor's Center. The sign out front blocks much of what happens next.
The fathers question why it took police so long to respond and why there wasn't a stronger police presence in the heavily-traveled area. But the chief of the Savnnah-Chatham Metropolitan Police Department told 11Alive News the attack wasn't random.
Chief Julie Tolbert said, "We certainly understand the frustration of a family who came to Savannah for an enjoyable weekend and ended up with injuries from an unpleasant situation, but preliminary investigations show this was not a random act. We will continue to determine all the facts as we move forward."
Tolbert said that the fight appears to be between two families and both included children. "One of the males in the Atlanta family continued to talk to him" after the man in the red shirt walked away. And "The video shows that both groups were carrying beverages and officers on scene reported a heavy odor of alcohol". The Atlanta families dispute that claim. While they had drinks at dinner, they were not drinking outside. The video does not show cups in their hands at the time the fight broke out.
Gray also disputes the police release stating their family was fighting with another family including children. "There were no children with them," Gray was adamant.
Police say they responded within 10 minutes of the first 911 call. And while the alcohol smell was mentioned in the initial police report, there's no indication Gray or Thomas were intoxicated. The report states: "he was calm and behaved in a pleasant manner".
The second group of people involved in the fight were gone when police arrived. Now, detectives are asking them to come forward to share their version of what happened.
Police are releasing the description of the other family from the video: One male was wearing a yellow shirt, the other a red shirt and later took it off and was wearing a white tank top. A younger female was wearing a white skirt or shorts and a beige or yellow top. The elder male was wearing all white and a white hat. They are asked to contact Downtown Precinct detectives via the SCMPD non-emergency number (912) 651-6500.
