AKRON, Ohio – A 26-year-old man from Kent, Ohio has been charged with assault after cell phone video showed him yelling racial slurs at a Black woman before punching her in the face.
According to Akron Municipal Court records, Andrew Walls is facing two counts of assault for allegedly attacking Cameron Morgan, 23, and another woman outside a bar in Ohio on Feb. 27. Walls is also facing one count of possessing a firearm while intoxicated. He has pleaded not guilty to both charges.
The brief video, recorded by Morgan’s sister and posted on Instagram by Morgan’s father, shows a man who appears to be drunk shouting racial slurs at a group of men outside a bar.
“I’m the only black person around. I didn’t know who he was talking to, but he was calling white people a racial slur” Morgan told Fox8 news. “I was like, ‘Who talks like that? You can’t say that. That is not okay.’”
The man, later identified as Walls, walks to Morgan and yells, “Nigger bitch. Shut your mouth!”, before punching her in the face.
“Something just triggered him because he looked at me dead in the eye, he called me an N-word slur, and then sucker punches me right in the mouth,” Morgan told News4SA.
Others tackled Walls after the punch and Morgan told police that when she tried to break up that fight Walls dragged her by her hair causing her to hit her head on the ground.
Morgan said she suffered a concussion and a bruised lip from the attack.
Walls surrendered to police a day after the incident and was booked into Summit County Jail for the night but was released the following day after posting $25,000 bail. A temporary restraining order was granted to Morgan.
Akron police said the information has been turned over to the F.B.I. as Walls may be facing federal hate crime charges.
“We will not leave any stone unturned to bring him to justice to the fullest extent possible,” said Akron Police Capt. David Laughlin.