Mall worker told rowdy kids to leave and was beaten unconscious by parent, TX cops say
An employee of a Texas mall is recovering from facial fractures and a concussion after being beaten unconscious, police said.
Daniel Lynn Thomas, 38, and his 13-year-old son attacked Central Mall employee Richard Houff Jr. on Jan. 20 after officials said Houff asked the teen and one of his friends to leave due to their rowdy behavior, TXK Today reported, citing a probable cause affidavit.
The teens were playing with a stroller when they were initially approached by a female security officer, police told KSLA.
Houff stepped in when the teens became verbally abusive toward the officer and asked them to leave, police told the station. Thomas returned to the mall shortly after with his son and confronted Houff, according to KSLA, citing police.
The pair struck Houff in unison, one striking him under the chin and the other in the face, knocking him to the ground unconscious, TXK Today reported, according to the affidavit.
“Our investigation determined that Thomas hit the man in the face and knocked him unconscious,” the Texarkana Police Department said in a Jan. 24 Facebook post. “He then stood over the man and hit him at least four more times.”
Houff suffered serious injuries, including a “concussion and several broken orbital bones around his eyes,” police said.
Houff was airlifted twice to Little Rock for his injuries and to save his eyesight, KTAL reported.
“It hurts, just to know that we can’t take away his pain,” Houff’s sister Roshanda Epps told KTAL. “This guy has no idea what he has done to our family.”
Thomas was arrested Jan. 24 for aggravated assault causing serious bodily injury after turning himself in to Texarkana police, police said.
He was released after posting a $150,000 bond, Bowie County jail records show.
Texarkana is about 180 miles northeast of Dallas.
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