78-Year-Old "Scared To Death" After Alleged Beating By Firefighter
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FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) - An elderly man says he's now "scared to death" of a Fort Worth firefighter. Why? Because he was allegedly beaten by the civil servant who he now calls a "coward."
Firefighter Shea O'Neill was arrested on a felony charge and jailed, after the incident at Amon G. Carter Stadium, during TCU's spring football game.
The 42-year-old firefighter is now on paid administrative leave and the 78-year old man is left healing from his wounds.
O'Neill is charged with injury to the elderly. According to his arrest warrant, O'Neill hit the elderly Arlington man in the face. The elder gentleman and his wife were sitting in a handicap area of the stadium.
The documents say O'Neill exchanged words with the couple after they tried to get O'Neill's children to stop climbing the stadium railing in front of their seats.
Pictures provided by the elderly victim show just some of the injuries he sustained to his teeth. The man say aside from shattered and dislodged teeth the beating left him swollen and bruised.
Fort Worth fire officials confirm O'Neill that in 2013 O'Neill was charged with murder in Arkansas. O'Neill stabbed a man to death, but the case was dismissed after investigators ruled the O'Neill had acted in self-defense.
It is those run-ins with the law that have the elderly man frightened to speak publicly and reveal his identity. He did however have some choice words during an off-camera interview. He said, "Anybody hits someone sitting down is a coward. If you hit a 78-year-old man sitting down you are a coward -- with a capital C."
O'Neill was released from the Mansfield Jail after posting a $100,000 bond. Fort Worth fire officials say he is at home and will remain on paid leave until the investigation into the incident is complete.
As for the elderly man, he said he is feeling better but is now left with mounting medical expenses.
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