After boasting he'd slap a woman in court, man seen in viral assault video gets probation
In a profanity-laced song uploaded to a website for aspiring musicians, Rostell King appeared to boast about his intentions to not plead guilty to a criminal charge and that he would go as far as slapping an unidentified woman in front of a judge.
But nearly a year after his arrest following a brutal attack on a woman in an apartment complex stairway —surveillance video of the July 2022 incident went viral sparking mass social media outrage — King ultimately pleaded guilty to felony first-degree assault.
On Tuesday, Greene County Circuit Judge Dan Wichmer ordered King to serve five years probation and pay $613.25 in restitution.
First-degree assault is a Class B felony in Missouri that carries a maximum penalty of 15 years of incarceration. Wichmer sentenced King to 10 years, but much of the sentence was suspended. If King violates the terms of his probation in the next five years, he could be ordered to serve the prison sentence.
The woman, who knew King before the attack, suffered a litany of injuries in the attack, according to police. A report noted cuts, swelling, a broken tooth and other injuries that required 12 stitches at the hospital.
Video surveillance of the attack at The Vue apartments on Walnut Street show King walking up a flight of stairs, obscured from the view of the woman, who was walking down a separate flight. When the two turn their respective corners and meet at the stairway, King immediately delivers a vicious punch to the woman's face, sending her to the ground.
The video shows King subsequently kick and punch the woman lying on the ground before leaving the scene. Seconds later, two unidentified men walk past the bleeding woman without appearing to offer any help.
When King was arrested last summer, prosecutors thought the attack was brutal enough to impose a $100,000 bond, which King posted a month after the arrest, according to court records.
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In a since-deleted social media post after the viral video was on its way to generating more than a million views on multiple platforms, King appears to reference the case, saying the woman was an ex-girlfriend who was trying to get someone to rob him. She refuted those claims in posts on her own social media page.
At 6-foot-3 and 250 pounds, King appeared to be twice the size of the woman he assaulted. He was a standout high school and junior college athlete who ended his football career at NCAA Division I school, University of Central Arkansas, in 2016. According to his LinkedIn page, King moved to Springfield after earning a bachelor's degree from UCA.
King, a Kansas City, Kansas, native, has no other criminal history in Missouri.
This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Springfield man from brutal viral assault video receives probation
