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Tow truck drivers describe being beaten, pistol-whipped during 'all-out brawl' after A-Day game
Magdala Louissaint
Anchor/Reporter
Tow truck drivers describe being beaten, pistol-whipped during 'all-out brawl' after A-Day game
IN NEARBY GRAY STREET HERE. AND IT WAS HERE THAT THESE AWESOME TOW TRUCK EMPLOYEES TELL ME THAT THEY WERE ATTACKED. WELL, THIS SIGN HERE SAYS THAT THEY’RE ALLOWED TO TOW ANYONE WHO IS NOT AUTHORIZED TO BE HERE. AND ON SATURDAY NIGHT, THEY SAY THAT’S WHAT THEY WERE DOING. AND THEN THINGS GOT UGLY OUT HERE. THREE DAYS INTO SUFFERING FROM A CONCUSSION, LEE EVERETT IS SURPRISINGLY BACK AT WORK TOWING CARS TODAY. THEY GOT KIDS, GOT A FAMILY, GOT BILLS, SO GOT TO GOT TO DO WHAT I GOT TO DO. STILL SAW HIS MEMORY OF WHAT HAPPENED SATURDAY NIGHT NEAR THE TUSCALOOSA STRIP IS VERY DIM. WHAT YOU CAN REMEMBER ON SATURDAY. WELL, THAT’S THE HARD PART BECAUSE I CAN’T. I ONLY THING I EVER REMEMBER IS WAKING UP IN AN AMBULANCE, COVERED IN BLOOD. JUST BEFORE 930 SATURDAY NIGHT AFTER THE A-DAY GAME, TUSCALOOSA POLICE SHUT DOWN THE STRIP BECAUSE IT WAS OVERCROWDED WITH THOUSANDS SPILLING OUT ONTO THE SIDEWALK AN HOUR BEFORE. AWESOME. TONY’S CREW AND OWNER ZIGGY SPIERS SAY THEY WERE CALLED TO TOW CARS AT AN APARTMENT COMPLEX. THEN A GROUP OF PEOPLE SHOWED UP. ONE OF THEM JUMPED ON THE BED, TRIED TO GET IN THE CAR TO DRIVE IT OFF. THE NEXT THING I KNOW, THEY SHOVED MY OLDEST DRIVER AND STARTED WHIPPING ON HIM. I JUMPED OUT OF THE TRUCK AND THEN IT TURNED INTO AN ALL OUT BRAWL. FROM THAT BRAWL, SPIERS AND EVERETT SHOW US THE SCARS TO PROVE A FIGHT. A SKINNED ELBOW, A BRUISE ON HIS CHEST. EVERETT AND ANOTHER EMPLOYEE, DOUG, WERE TAKEN TO THE HOSPITAL FOR HEAD INJURIES. I THINK I GET JUST MORE AGGRAVATED AND ALL BECAUSE I CAN’T REMEMBER, YOU KNOW, I’M TRYING TO PIECE IT TOGETHER, BUT I. I CAN’T PIECE IT TOGETHER, SPIERS SAYS. MOVING FORWARD, THINGS WILL CHANGE FOR THEIR CREWS. WE’RE GOING TO POSSIBLY HAVE PISTOL ON US EVERY TIME WE STEP OUT OF THE TRUCK. NOW, INSTEAD OF BEING IN THE TRUCK, IT WILL BE ON US. FOR EVERETT, WHO SAYS HE WAS PISTOL WHIPPED AND ALIVE TO TELL HIS STORY, I’M THANKFUL. I’M VERY THANKFUL I WASN’T SHOT SO I MEAN, YEAH, I GOT HIT WITH IT, BUT VERY THANKFUL I DID NOT GET SHOT. TUSCALOOSA POLICE TELL ME THEY KNOW WHO ATTACKED THE TOW TRUCK DRIVERS AT THIS TIME. THEY’RE TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WHO DID WHAT. NOW THEY SAY CHARGES ARE EXPECTED, BUT THEY HAVE NOT BEEN FILED YET. WE’RE LIVE IN TUSCALOOSA. I’M MA
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Tow truck drivers describe being beaten, pistol-whipped during 'all-out brawl' after A-Day game
Magdala Louissaint
Anchor/Reporter
Days into suffering from a concussion, Lee Averette is surprisingly back at work towing cars on Wednesday."I got kids. I got a family. I got bills. I got to do what I got to do,” Averette said.He's still sore, but his memory of what happened Saturday night near the Tuscaloosa strip is very dim.>> THE LATEST: Headlines and weather from WVTM 13WVTM 13 Magdala Louissaint asked him, “What can you remember from Saturday?""That's the hard part. I can't." Averette, a wrecker with Awesome Towing, said. "I remember waking up in the ambulance covered in blood."Before 9:30 p.m. Saturday after the A-Day game, Tuscaloosa police shut down the strip because it was overcrowded, with thousands spilling out on the sidewalk.An hour before, Awesome Towing's crew and owner Ziggy Spires said they were called to tow cars at an apartment complex near Grace Street. Then a group of people showed up."One of them jumped on the bed, tried to drive off. Next thing I know, they shoved one of my oldest drivers and started whopping on him. I jumped out the truck, then it turned out into an all-out brawl,” Spires said.>> WVTM 13 ON-THE-GO: Download our app for freeFrom that brawl, Spires and Averette showed the WVTM 13 crew the scars to prove a fight: a skinned elbow, a bruise on his chest. Averette and another employee, Doug, were taken to the hospital for head injuries. "I get aggravated in all because I can't remember. I've tried to piece it together, but I can't piece it together,” Averette said.Spires said that moving forward, things will change for their crews.“We're going to have pistols on us every time we step out of the truck now instead of it being on the truck. There will be mace on us,” Spires said.For Averette, who says he was pistol-whipped and alive to tell his story, adds "I'm very thankful I wasn't shot. I got hit with it, but very thankful I wasn't shot.”Tuscaloosa police said they know who attacked the tow truck drivers and they’re working to determine who did what. Charges are expected but have not been filed yet.
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. —

Days into suffering from a concussion, Lee Averette is surprisingly back at work towing cars on Wednesday.

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"I got kids. I got a family. I got bills. I got to do what I got to do,” Averette said.

He's still sore, but his memory of what happened Saturday night near the Tuscaloosa strip is very dim.

>> THE LATEST: Headlines and weather from WVTM 13

WVTM 13 Magdala Louissaint asked him, “What can you remember from Saturday?"

"That's the hard part. I can't." Averette, a wrecker with Awesome Towing, said. "I remember waking up in the ambulance covered in blood."

Before 9:30 p.m. Saturday after the A-Day game, Tuscaloosa police shut down the strip because it was overcrowded, with thousands spilling out on the sidewalk.

An hour before, Awesome Towing's crew and owner Ziggy Spires said they were called to tow cars at an apartment complex near Grace Street. Then a group of people showed up.

"One of them jumped on the bed, tried to drive off. Next thing I know, they shoved one of my oldest drivers and started whopping on him. I jumped out the truck, then it turned out into an all-out brawl,” Spires said.

>> WVTM 13 ON-THE-GO: Download our app for free

From that brawl, Spires and Averette showed the WVTM 13 crew the scars to prove a fight: a skinned elbow, a bruise on his chest. Averette and another employee, Doug, were taken to the hospital for head injuries.

"I get aggravated in all because I can't remember. I've tried to piece it together, but I can't piece it together,” Averette said.

Spires said that moving forward, things will change for their crews.

“We're going to have pistols on us every time we step out of the truck now instead of it being on the truck. There will be mace on us,” Spires said.

For Averette, who says he was pistol-whipped and alive to tell his story, adds "I'm very thankful I wasn't shot. I got hit with it, but very thankful I wasn't shot.”

Tuscaloosa police said they know who attacked the tow truck drivers and they’re working to determine who did what. Charges are expected but have not been filed yet.