JACKSON COUNTY, Ga. — Police are searching for a teenager who punched a senior citizen in the face and filmed the assault on his phone.
Al Westmoreland’s bruises are still serious nearly a week after he was brutally attacked by a teen riding on a bike near Jefferson High School.
“I stopped and he rode the bicycle right up to the front of my truck. The whole time he was holding his camera...videoing,” he told Channel 2′s Tom Regan.
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Westmoreland said the teen circled around his pickup and stopped in front of his truck. He stepped out to ask what was going on.
“He came right up to me, held the camera in my face. I just took my hand, pushed away the camera and when I did, he hit me,” the 74-year-old said. “I hit the truck, the street. Don’t remember any of that.”
Paramedics rushed him to the hospital after the assault. He suffered a concussion, fracture and facial fractures.
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He believes the teen who attacked him filmed the violent stunt with the intent of posting it on a social media platform.
The police chief told Regan that his investigators are on the lookout for the video.
“We monitor TikTok, all the apps these kids use. we haven’t been able to identify anything that says yes, this is a TikTok challenge,” Chief Joseph Wirthman said.
Westmoreland said he doesn’t want to see someone else attacked, especially someone older and not as fit as him.
“If someone who is 80, 85, and not in good shape, this could have been really serious.”
Wirthman told Regan they are in the process of obtaining security camera video from the nearby high school.
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