Norman Police release video of alleged Campus Corner beating
NORMAN, Okla. (KFOR) — Newly-released surveillance footage shows the moments several men appeared to knock a Norman man unconscious outside a Campus Corner restaurant earlier this month, and legal experts say the way that man responded after being attacked could be the reason no charges have been filed.
News 4 reported earlier this month when Harrison Hipp said several men beat him to the point he sustained brain damage while he was walking in Norman’s Campus Corner district late at night earlier this month.
Hipp claimed the men attacked him because he is Jewish.
On Monday, Norman police released surveillance video recorded from a nearby businesses, showing the attack.
The video begins as Hipp was walking outside a pizza restaurant around 1:30 a.m.
He is seen wearing a cowboy hat.
When News 4 spoke to Hipp earlier this month, he claimed everything started when someone tried to take his hat.
“I said, 'No, this is my hat, you know, sorry,'” Hipp previously told News 4. “And I was polite about it and said sorry.”
The video shows another man in a cowboy hat approach Hipp.
They appear to exchange words, then the man runs at Hipp, and the two begin throwing punches.
Hipp falls to the ground, but quickly gets back up.
Then, more men join the fight, beating Hipp until he falls on a curb and appears to lie unconscious.
When News 4 talked to Hipp, he claimed the men attacked him because he is Jewish.
“They're calling me a dirty Jew,” Hipp said. “And every single one of them attacking me, calling me a dirty Jew.”
The surveillance footage shows Hipp’s attackers walked away after he appeared to be unconscious.
When Hipp eventually regains consciousness and stands back up, he can be seen appearing to shout at someone.
While shouting, he stumbles back toward the group of people who had been attacking him.
One of those people then runs up to Hipp and knocks him back to the ground.
He lays in front of a car, but then gets back up and walks back over to his attackers yet again.
They chase him around the street and begin kicking him.
He lays on the ground and eventually crawls to his car.
He and his girlfriend get inside and drive away just before police arrive.
Hipp told News 4 he wanted the men charged with assault and battery, and also with a hate crime.
But Norman Police announced no charges will be filed and the case will be closed unless more evidence emerges.
News 4 showed the surveillance video to attorney Tim Gilpin.
“Generally speaking, on assault and battery, it's the aggressor who's responsible,” Gilpin said.
He says, the fact that Hipp appears to have re-engaged with the men who attacked him several times after they had walked away complicates things for him.
“If there is a change in the circumstances of the altercation and let's say there is a separation, and then the person who was defending then come back and start something new, then it could be two assault batteries, one on each person,” Gilpin said.
And with no audio recorded, Gilpin is not sure there’s enough evidence, as of right now, to prove a hate crime either.
“So that's where the witnesses would come in to it to say, well, the one gentleman that attacked him because of what he said regarding his religion, maybe that would be fighting words, that type thing,” he said.