A 71-year-old woman was arrested after she allegedly attacked a pregnant black servicewoman over a confrontation about a parking space.
Cellphone footage of the encounter started circulating online over the weekend, showing the older woman, identified as Judy James Tucker, lunging and slapping at two black service members in Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen in Macon, Ga. Deputies who arrived on the scene determined that “Tucker was the primary aggressor,” The Telegraph notes, but of course, that’s not what she was trying to tell deputies.
According to a write-up by one of the deputies, Tucker, who was with her son and her daughter at the time, told deputies that the scuffle “started over a parking spot” because “she was white and it was a race issue.”
The two servicewomen—Stephanie Mitchell, 34, and Treasure Sharpe, 27, both black—had a different story to tell.
Mitchell told responding officers that she and Sharpe were backing into a parking space when Tucker’s son told them “they should learn how to park” and “called them dumb bitches,” the report indicated.
This harassment continued inside the restaurant, where Tucker’s son approached them once again and called them “black lesbian bitches.”
Fed up at this point, Sharpe started recording the incident. In the video, Tucker’s daughter could be seen lunging at Sharpe, trying to block the cellphone.
“Are you aware that you assaulted my mother?” Tucker’s daughter could be heard saying to Sharpe and Mitchell. “Are you aware? My mother is bleeding.”
“You were getting in our way while we tried to park,” Tucker said. “Don’t you take a picture of me! You do not have the right to take a picture of me.”
As Mitchell stood between Tucker and Sharpe, Tucker “lunged and struck Sharpe in the face,” the deputy’s report noted.
That’s when Sharpe pointed out that she was pregnant.
“I’m pregnant! Look at me, I’m pregnant! You’re pushing a pregnant lady!” Sharpe said in the video.
Tucker flippantly responded, “Well, my husband is handicapped!”
Well, so much for respecting members of the military, I suppose. I can’t help wondering how Tucker feels about NFL players kneeling for the national anthem ... I have so many questions.
Anyway, as reported earlier, deputies made it quite clear that Tucker was the one to blame for the altercation.
“With all of the lunging and slapping happening, it was never shown through cell phone video that Mrs. Mitchell or Mrs. Sharpe did anything wrong,” the deputy’s report said. “In fact, Mrs. Mitchell tried, without fail, to stop the attack on Mrs. Sharpe.”
Tucker was taken away and charged with simple assault, but had bonded out by Monday. However, according to The Telegraph, the attack is still being investigated and more charges may be pending.
In the meantime, Darden Restaurants, which owns Cheddar’s, released a statement saying that the Tuckers are no longer welcome in the establishment.
“We were appalled by the behavior of the individuals who confronted the two female service members. Such behavior flies in the face of our values and those individuals are no longer welcome in our restaurant,” the statement read.
Tucker is also facing repercussions in her personal life. According to The Telegraph, she is an artist who has taught art classes at several Macon colleges. Mercer University, one of those schools, released a statement saying that she would not be teaching there again.
“She has occasionally taught an art class in the past, but will not be teaching at Mercer in the future,” university spokesperson Kyle Sears said.