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TRANSIT MALL BEATING
Victim of Transit Mall Beating Speaks Out

Reported by: Send eMail Leslie Rubin
Videographer: Matt Durrett
Web Producer: Heath Harrison
Reported: Mar. 13, 2013 5:57 PM EDT
Updated: Mar. 14, 2013 4:50 AM EDT

EYEWITNESS ONLINE WEBCAST VIDEO
C L I C K   T O   P L A Y
Charleston , Kanawha County , West Virginia

A man brutally beaten at the Transit Mall in Charleston is sending a message to his alleged attackers.

Some would consider it a miracle Brandon Coltey survived the attack. He was robbed and kicked repeatedly in the head, and even hit with a brick.

"I'm still here and I didn't die like they wanted me to," Coltey said from his hospital bed on Wednesday.

Beaten and bruised, but getting better by the day, Coltey said the last week and half has been a living nightmare.

"I was in like a three to four day coma," he said.

He doesn't remembed getting attacked by two men at the Transit Mall. He also doesn't remember being repeatedly kicked in the head, or beat with a brick, but he does know that if it were him, he wouldn't have watched as it happened to someone else, like so many around him did.

"I would have taken action and probably helped that person out. It's just the way I've always been," he said.

Brandon Douglas and Dana LaFond were arrested shortly after Charleston police released the chilling surveillance video.

"It's just a bump in the road. Hopefully I'll get back on my feet and get back to normal," Coltey said.

He says the hardest part of the whole ordeal has been not being able to be with his 3-month-old baby. Despite everything his attackers have caused him to go through, he says he just hopes they take something positive away from it.

"They learn from their mistakes because if they don't, they're just going to make more mistakes and learn from those mistakes as well," Coltey said.

The suspects will be in court next Monday for their preliminary hearings.




The victim in a brutal beating at the Charleston Transit Mall spoke exclusively to Eyewitness News Wednesday night.

Last Monday, Brandon Coltey was beaten almost to death at the Charleston Transit Mall. He was robbed and kicked repeatedly in the head, and even hit with bricks. Doctors, at one point, thought he wasn't going to make it.

In the last week and half, Coltey has overcome amazing odds and is on his way to a full recovery.
When Coltey was beaten while waiting for a bus, nearly a dozen people stood by and watched. The attack went on for several minutes, but, finally, someone called police.

That surveillance video helped police make a quick arrest. Dana Lafond was arrested as he trying to board a plane to Myrtle Beach, and Brandon Douglas was also arrested.

Coltey had a simple message to his alleged attackers.

"Learn from their mistakes, because, if they don't, they're just going to make more mistakes and have to learn from those mistakes as well," Coltey said

Coltey should be released from the hospital soon. He says he just wants to go home and hold his three-month-old baby.

Those suspects, Dana Lafond and Brandon Douglas will be in court for their preliminary hearings next Monday.



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