Man, 21, charged in assault on hotel clerk

Police: Victim suffers serious eye injury after asking suspect to leave Ramada Inn for violating rules

While responding to a disturbance Monday at a State Line Avenue hotel, authorities found an injured clerk chasing a man through the neighboring Waffle House parking lot, police said.

Brandon Walls, 21, of Maud, Texas, was arrested at 5:40 p.m. Monday in the assault of a 27-year-old, male Ramada Inn hotel clerk, said Shawn Vaughn, Texarkana, Texas, police spokesman.

Vaughn said the first officer on the scene to check out a disturbance reported in the hotel lobby found Walls being chased by the hotel clerk in the parking lot of the adjacent restaurant. When the officer stopped the two men, he noticed the clerk had a serious injury to his eye.

"(The clerk) told the officer that Walls had assaulted him at the hotel," Vaughn said.

Walls had been renting a room at the hotel when the clerk told him he could no longer stay at the Ramada because he had violated hotel rules, Vaughn said. Walls got angry and came behind the counter a number of times "as though he wanted to fight," Vaughn said.

"The clerk produced a small baseball bat from under the counter and told Walls that he would refund his money if he would leave," Vaughn said. "After the clerk put away the bat and followed Walls outside, he told him that he was not welcome to return to the property."

Police said Walls then removed his shirt and hit the victim in the eye-at least once-before fleeing on foot. The victim then took off after Walls in pursuit.

The victim was treated for his injuries at CHRISTUS St. Michael.

Vaughn said Walls was initially charged with assault but, when the victim's eye injury was found to be more serious than originally thought, his charge was upgraded to aggravated assault with serious bodily injury, a felony.

"When (police) went to put him in the car, they found a glass pipe that is consistent with smoking methamphetamine," Vaughn said.

Walls was "also served two outstanding arrest warrants for failing to appear on previous arrests for possession of drug paraphernalia," Vaughn said.

Walls is being held in Bi-State jail on a $75,000 bond for felony aggravated assault, as well as $1,150 for the three misdemeanor possession charges, according to reports.

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