JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A man who had been facing a misdemeanor battery charge in connection with an attack on a woman inside an Arlington gas station had his charge upgraded to a felony Friday -- something the victim’s attorneys had been asking prosecutors to do.
Attorneys for the victim, Rayme McCoy, also revealed Friday that she was pregnant at the time of the attack but didn’t learn of the pregnancy until later.
Kevin Williamson, 59, appeared before a judge Friday with his public defender. His misdemeanor battery charge was dropped and he was served with a charge of felony battery instead.
WATCH: Press play below to watch the raw store surveillance video from the attack (Warning: The video contains images that some might find disturbing.)
Attorney John Phillips, whose firm is representing the 23-year-old victim in Williamson’s case, had called on the State Attorney’s Office to upgrade Williamson’s charge. He, McCoy, and local civil rights activists also want the case prosecuted as a hate crime. That will not happen, the State Attorney’s Office said Friday.
READ: State Attorney’s Office response on hate crime charges
Prosecutors said there are two reasons they won’t be classifying this a hate crime: they don’t have evidence that McCoy was “individually targeted” because of her race” and because of her own actions just before the attack.
The state says they are obligated to only file charges they believe can be proven beyond a reasonable doubt to a jury.
McCoy’s attorneys issued a statement Friday after Williamson’s charge was upgraded:
“We still await the addition of hate crime charges but thank the Sheriff’s Office and the State Attorneys for the upgraded charge. Ms. McCoy was pregnant at the time of the attack, so two lives were subject to Mr. Williamson’s violence. We demand release of the surveillance and body camera video from the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office and State Attorney’s Office.”
McCoy’s attorney said she didn’t discover that she is pregnant until after the attack.
“What happened on that day was brutal, savage, and vicious. A man punching on her as if she was in a heavyweight fight. This has been terrible; she needs treatment from a neurologist,” said activist Ben Frazier, who has been in contact with McCoy following the attack.
Frazier said he wants hate crimes charges filed immediately.
“We should not allow anyone to be attacked like this in a public place or public space. Whether they are a man or woman or white or Black. And when these kinds of unfair things happen, there should be someone who stands up and speaks out against it. We should not be quiet,” Frazier said.
Williamson is being held on $50,000 bond. He appeared before a judge Saturday morning on the new felony charge. He’ll be back in court June 22.
Details surrounding attack
The attack that happened on May 16 at a gas station on University Boulevard was recorded from store surveillance video and shared with News4JAX by McCoy.
Duval County court documents also provided more details about the attack.
McCoy told News4JAX that she walked into the gas station near her home and was followed by an older white man who was already involved in an argument with someone outside.
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McCoy said the man was “ranting and raving” and using “racist” language and that at one point, the man walked toward the counter where McCoy was standing and she asked him to back up. That’s when the man said he had a gun in his car, McCoy said.
The video shared with News4JAX, which does not contain audio of the exchange, shows the man with a mustache and a green shirt punching McCoy in the face at least 10 times before he walks out of the store. The video was also posted on social media and shared thousands of times. (Warning: The video below contains images that some might find disturbing.)
Williamson’s redacted arrest report suggests police were watching Williamson once a battery warrant was issued. According to the report, officers attempted to find him on Friday at his house in a neighborhood off McDuff Avenue, but a neighbor told police that he had left around 6 p.m.
Later, the report shows, police saw a car pull into his driveway and then initiated a “high-risk traffic stop.” Williamson was taken into custody without incident, the report states.
Once in custody, the report shows, he made some kind of spontaneous utterance, but it was redacted from the report.
News4JAX later obtained the unredacted arrest report, and it shows Williamson’s spontaneous utterance to police was, “Did you watch the whole video? She hit me first.”
Williamson said that the woman attacked him and stated that he “was in a Black town and asked what else was he supposed to do,” according to the report. Williamson said the woman was screaming at him, “stating that he was racist because of how he spoke to an ‘Iranian gentlemen’ outside,” according to the report. Williamson said the woman knocked several canned items off the counter, hitting him in the side and foot, and he stated, “That is what set him off,” according to the report. He said that he then struck her three times with an open hand on the side of her head and told police that he did not make any racial statements toward the woman, the report said.
News4JAX also obtained the arrest warrant, which contains reference to another racial comment. When Williamson came into the store to buy beers, the woman, after hearing his comments to the man outside, asked him to back away from her because he was standing too close, the warrant said. Williamson said words to the effect about her being “those people,” and told her he had a gun in his car and to not mess with him, according to the warrant. The woman yelled at Williamson that if he grabbed his gun or hit her, she would have someone come to the gas station to protect her, the warrant shows. They started to argue, according to the warrant, and at one point, Williamson “would not back away,” so the woman slapped a can of beer onto the ground. Williamson then “immediately started punching” her in the face several times and fled the store.
The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said it was able to recover the store surveillance video, but there was no audio to it, so what Williamson said was not recorded.
Records show Williamson has been a registered sex offender for over 30 years and had a repeat domestic violence injunction filed against him that was later dismissed. There were two aggravated assault charges, one of which was with a deadly weapon, and both were dropped, court records show.