An Arkansas man is facing a felony charge after calling another man the N-word, then hitting him in the head with a heavy chain, according to police.
Tanner Chase Thomas Bobbitt is facing second-degree battery, a Class D felony, in connection with a violent confrontation in Jonesboro, Arkansas, on Oct. 17.
According to court documents cited by KAIT, the victim told police that he was riding his bike to his friend’s house when he heard Bobbitt suddenly call him the slur and threaten him.
The victim said that when he confronted Bobbitt, Bobbitt retrieved a chain from his pocket and hit the victim in the head with it.
“Victim states that he confronted Bobbitt about what he had said, and Bobbitt produced a chain from his pocket and struck him in the head with it,” the police affidavit said. “Officers noted a laceration to the head which was actively bleeding.”
When authorities got Bobbitt’s side of the story, the 22-year-old reportedly “stated that he did indeed call the victim the racial slur and hit him with the chain, but claimed he was provoked first.”
Police searched Bobbitt and found a 1.5-foot-long metal log chain in his jacket pocket.
He was booked into the Craighead County Detention Center.
During his bond hearing, he claimed self-defense, according to the NEA Report. His bail was set at $20,000, payable in cash or by surety.
Bobbitt faced felony charges last year after being accused of stabbing a homeless man in the back with a screwdriver. According to local news reports, Bobbitt claimed the victim attacked him first by slicing his heel with a machete.
Investigators viewed and photographed Bobbitt’s heels, which had blisters “consistent with footwear rubbing against his heels,” according to a police report.
The report continues, “The marks on his heels were not made from a machete striking him.”
