PLATTE -- A man is wanted in connection with a Sept. 1 incident in Platte that led to another man requiring his jaw to be surgically repaired.
An arrest warrant was issued for 29-year-old Joey "Wes" Williams Jr., of Bay Minette, Alabama, last Thursday. Williams is charged with aggravated assault, a Class 3 felony.
The allegations against Williams are based on audio and video surveillance recordings of the area where the assault allegedly took place. Based on those recordings, at 1:30 a.m. on Sept. 1, the victim spent about 10 minutes trying to wake up an unconscious man outside a Platte bar. Williams could be seen throughout that footage and at one point reportedly urinated on the man on the ground.
Williams could then be seen driving a silver pickup to the victim and the unconscious man. The second man reportedly got up and started making accusations against the victim. A fourth man then arrived and circled around the victim with Williams and the man who had previously been unconscious.
Williams then allegedly clenched his right hand in a fist and hit the victim on the right side of his jaw, causing his head to hit a concrete slab and knocking him unconscious. When the victim came to, Williams allegedly knocked him out again. He and the two other men then reportedly drove away, leaving the victim unconscious in the gravel.
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A Charles Mix County deputy later found the victim, who was transported to the emergency room for his injuries. On Sept. 4, he was taken to Sioux Falls, where screws and two steel plates were surgically inserted into his jaw.
Law enforcement reportedly heard both that Williams had gone to Florida to move his family away from Hurricane Dorian and that he had gotten a tip that he was wanted for the beating and had gone to Alabama without the intention of returning.
Criminal charges have not been filed against the other men present for the assault.
