Father, son charged in assault of Washington Country Club employee
A Washington man and his son are charged in the assault of a Washington Country Club employee over a dispute about water sprinklers.
Rowdy Thomas Williams Sr., 37, was charged by South Strabane police Tuesday with a felony of aggravated assault. His son, Rowdy Thomas Williams Jr., 18, faces the same charge.
According to the complaint, the Williamses, who live on Country Club Road, had complained to the country club that golf course sprinklers were spraying their property.
Police were called to the country club at about 6 p.m. June 16, when employee Mark Yates told officers he was assaulted after seeing three people jumping on a sprinkler in an attempt to break it. They were identified as Rowdy Williams Sr., Rowdy Williams Jr., and a juvenile.
According to the complaint, the assault occurred when Yates drove a golf cart toward the sprinkler. Williams Sr. leaned into the golf cart and said, “I assume you are the (expletive) I need to talk to,” according to court documents. Rowdy Jr. is accused of following up with, “I’m going to kill you.”
Yates told investigators that Williams Jr. punched him in the face and was then dragged out of the golf cart. Both of the Williamses and the juvenile are accused of punching and kicking Yates repeatedly while he was curled up on the ground. Yates estimated he was struck 50 times.
During the assault a female witness yelled at the suspects to stop.
“If it wasn’t for the female stopping them, I believe they would have killed me,” Yates told police, the complaint reads.
After the assault Williams Sr. is accused of throwing the golf cart key into a nearby creek.
On July 26, Williams Sr. went to the South Strabane police station with an attorney. The elder Williams said it was his son and the juvenile who were at the scene at the time of the assault, and claimed the juvenile had thrown only one or two punches at Yates, according to the complaint.
Yates suffered a concussion and a jaw injury and received several cuts and bruises to his head in the attack.
Williams Sr. also faces misdemeanor charges of simple assault and theft by unlawful taking. Charges were issued via summons. It was not immediately clear if the juvenile had been charged.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for 11:15 a.m. Sept. 17.