Dallas police charge Deep Ellum assault suspect Austin Shuffield with a felony

After a week of protests and rallies calling on officials to upgrade criminal charges against the Dallas man filmed punching a woman repeatedly during an argument in Deep Ellum last week, police have filed a felony assault charge against the suspect.

Austin Shuffield, 30, now faces charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, a second-degree felony, and unlawfully carrying a weapon, Dallas police said Thursday.

Shuffield was initially arrested March 21 on misdemeanor charges of assault and interfering with an emergency call, as well as public intoxication.

Video of the attack was captured in a viral video, in which Shuffield is seen punching 24-year-old L’Daijohnique Lee repeatedly.

Earlier this week, Lee spoke to reporters about the attack, saying she has been so fearful since the attack that she’s had to sleep in hotels.

“I’m scared. I don’t know who is following me, who is behind me, who is watching me,” she said Monday at a news conference with her attorney, Lee Merritt.

After learning of the upgraded charges, Merritt said in a written statement that it was “unfortunate that the initial charging officer failed to file any felony charges against Austin Shuffield” after reviewing video evidence and hearing from the victim and witnesses.

“The delay … allowed a dangerous assailant to continue to roam freely among the public and had caused Ms. Lee a great deal of unrest,” Merritt said in the statement.

Police did not say whether Shuffield had a warrant out for his arrest on the additional charges.

Officers were called early March 21 to the 2800 block of Elm Street, near North Crowdus Street, where Lee told police she was driving the wrong way down the street and had stopped.

She said Shuffield got out of his truck and told her to move out of the way because she was blocking the exit to a parking lot, according to an arrest-warrant affidavit.

When the two started to argue, Shuffield slapped Lee’s phone out of her hand as she was trying to call 911, according to the arrest warrant.

A witness told police Lee hit Shuffield after the man knocked her phone out of her hand, according to the arrest warrant. Then, Shuffield hit Lee multiple times with a closed fist, the witness said.

Shuffield told an officer he was acting in self defense after Lee hit him, the affidavit states.

Police found a handgun and a knife when they searched Shuffield’s vehicle, according to the arrest warrant.

Shuffield worked as a bartender at High and Tight Barbershop about a block from where the assault took place. He was fired, the barbershop wrote on Facebook the day of the assault.