DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – A man is accused of beating a woman with a brick on the street near a mini-mart on Atlantic Avenue in Daytona Beach around 8 a.m. on Monday.
Malik T. Irving, 24, is facing two counts of battery, one count of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and attempted robbery with a deadly weapon.
Daytona Beach police said officers received a call of women being attacked by a man wearing a red sweatshirt with “Lifeguard” written on it.
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The victims did not speak English and police brought in another officer to assist with translating. The victims said while they were at a bus stop a man they did not know in a red sweatshirt began talking to them. They did not know what the man was saying due to the language barrier and all of a sudden he spat at them and continued to approach them, records show.
Police said the victims started to run away by crossing Atlantic Avenue and the man picked up a nearby brick and started chasing them. Officers said both women fell around the median and the man slammed the brick onto one victim’s left shin.
The other woman said she tried to help but the man started to kick them both, according to police, as he tried to steal a fanny pack from the woman he hit with a brick. Irving was unable to get the fanny pack, records show.
Police said a third woman started yelling for help so Dylan Burst, a good Samaritan who was driving in the area, stopped his vehicle and drove the victims to safety.
“I just saw these three women run into the middle of the street, they were hysterical, screaming and crying,” he told News 6.
Burst said he was driving to work and stopped his car in the middle of the road to help.
“I grabbed them, and they didn’t speak any English at all and I didn’t know, I just said, ‘Get in my truck,’ as loud as I could, ‘Get in my truck,’” he said.
Burst said he drove them a few blocks south and called police.
“We all pretty much broke down. I couldn’t believe what I had just witnessed and they obviously were in complete shock,” he said.
Officers said the victim hit by the brick has a large swelling on her left shin and the other woman attacked is bruised from the kicks.
Police said they found broken pieces of a brick at the scene and witnesses were able to identify Irving as the man involved in the attack.
Investigators said they found Irving in the red sweatshirt two blocks north of the reported attack.