A man who remains behind bars after a racially motivated attack on an 80-year-old black Villager is facing new charges after allegedly attacking his black cellmate.
Kyle David Parrish, 37, of Umatilla, was charged with battery by a person detained in a jail facility following a July 19 altercation with his cellmate, 34-year-old Tommie Hall, who was being held on a probation violation.
According to an arrest report from the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office, surveillance footage showed Parrish stand up from his bottom bunk and strike Hall — who was on the top bunk — on the side of the head with a closed fist. Hall then climbed down and punched Parrish in the face in retaliation.
Hall told a deputy that he had just woken up when Parrish attacked him, alleging that Parrish also head-butted him and directed a racial slur at him. Neither man suffered obvious injuries, but deputies identified Parrish as the primary aggressor. When questioned, Parrish invoked his right to remain silent but made a spontaneous statement, telling the deputy he had “just been cooped up in here for a while.”
The latest racially charged incident comes after Parrish’s mother, Ruth Etheze of Ocala, penned a letter to Judge Mary Hatcher asking for leniency and claiming her son is suffering from “drug psychosis” and unresolved childhood trauma…