After waiving his preliminary hearing in court Wednesday, Harvey Updyke Jr., the man accused of poisoning the Toomer's oaks, told the Opelika Police Department he was assaulted in the parking lot of Tiger Express on Hwy. 280 in Opelika.
Updyke said he arrived at the gas station between his 1:30 p.m. court appearance and 2 p.m. Updyke told police he thinks more than one person assaulted him, and he never saw them.
Updyke was treated at East Alabama Medical Center and said he was punched in the face and received several small abrasions and scratches.
After receiving treatment, Updyke said he went back to Tiger Express to see if they had surveillance video of the incident.
Updyke said he is interested in seeking prosecution for the people who attacked him if they can be identified.
Glennon Threatt, Updyke's lawyer, called the Paul Finebaum show after the incident.
"Somewhere right outside of Opelika, Harvey stopped at a gas station to get a drink and some gas, and when he got out of his car, it went black," Threatt said. "He woke up on the ground. He had been hit in the head with something, so he wandered into the gas station in pain, and they directed him to a local emergency room. He responded to that emergency room. He has got facial bruises and a split in his brow."
Updyke didn't require stitches, Threatt said.
According to Threatt, a Montgomery news station received a phone call saying Updyke had been stabbed, so a reporter in the area went to East Alabama Medical Center and saw Updyke bleeding.
Threatt said he believes the person who assaulted Updyke was the person who called the television station.
Threatt said he was not with Updyke during the incident.
"I had nothing to do with my client getting assaulted in a gas station in Opelika," Threatt said. "If I was involved in it, I would have arranged to be there."
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