HOUSTON – A southwest Houston man says he was bitten and beaten near a bus stop by a homeless man who attacked him during an attempted robbery.
It happened near Post Oak and Bellfort, but the man who says he was attacked had to be rushed to Memorial Hermann Hospital.
Joyce James says her husband, 53-year-old Anthony Poole, was waiting at a bus stop near the intersection when the incident happened around 1:45 p.m.
“The guy from underneath the freeway who lives there came up to him, said what are you looking at? I don’t know what his response was but he says the guy told him, I’m going to take everything you have,” James said.
But James said her husband refused to be robbed.
“He said he came at him so my husband pushed him and he said he got up and just came at him fighting and fighting,” she said.
James said her husband told her that is when another homeless man, who also lives underneath the overpass across the street, appeared and joined in on the fight.
“Got him on the ground and was holding him down and he said they were stomping on him and the first suspect bit him like an animal,” she said.
A witness at the nearby McDonald’s who says he recently moved to Houston from Atlanta recorded a video showing the incident, The witness says the video shows Poole inside the restaurant with a bloody head trying to get away from a man. KPRC 2′s Deven Clarke spoke to Poole, who didn’t want to go on camera, but says the man in the video is the one who bit him moments earlier and Poole was in the McDonald’s trying to get away.
“You can see them like going through the lobby, cussing at each other, then you can see the police. It was like seven, eight of them on the last homeless guy they tackled,” the witness said.
Houston Police say at least one person was taken into custody.
Houston Police say they are investigating exactly what led up to the incident. Meanwhile, James says her husband has a broken rib and needs stitches.
At least one assault charge is on the table and more charges having to do with assaulting a public servant may follow as officials say there was a scuffle between the suspects and police.
Poole and his wife say this incident could have been avoided in TxDOT and METRO had listened to concerns they have been voicing for years regarding people living under the overpass. We reached out to METRO and TxDOT. METRO says they are looking into the issue. We have not heard back from TxDOT.