An Evans man was brutally assaulted last Tuesday by an underage suspect outside Evans Towne Center following the Rock Fore Dough concert, authorities said.
Hunter Smith, 20 (pictured here), was charged with aggravated battery after his unprovoked assault on 21-year-old William Wilhelm, according to a sheriff’s report. Smith has a history of drug arrests with previous appearances in The Jail Report.
Wilhelm was punched so violently that one of his eyes was swollen shut, and doctors said he sustained fractures to his orbital bone that could require surgery.
Luckily, the assault was witnessed by two sheriff’s investigators. They saw Smith and his friend Barrett Bentley approach the victim and became “verbally aggressive,” a report says. At the time, the victim was escorting a friend to her car and stopped to check on another friend when the pair came up and started yelling. That’s when Smith allegedly cold-cocked Wilhelm.
“Both investigators saw Mr. Smith ball up his fist and start the physical altercation,” a report says.
The officers stepped in and separated the three men. Bentley soon walked away, and authorities say there is no evidence he threw a punch despite the victim claiming he did.
A responding officer tried to get Smith’s side of the story. “Due to his heavily intoxicated state and his refusal to speak with me, I was unable to get his side,” a report says. “The only information Mr. Smith provided me was that at the time of the altercation, he was mad due to someone throwing beer on him.”
After his arrest, Smith was searched and found with two OxyContin pills and two Alprazolam pills in a Goodies powder bag. That led to two charges for possession of schedule II and schedule IV drugs.
To read our interview with the victim of this assault, pick up this week’s edition of The Jail Report, sold in local gas stations.
