JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Witnesses have described what happened in the parking lot -- outside the camera view -- just a day after surveillance video was released of the moments leading up to a beating outside the American Legion post last month.
The owners of Wing Depot, who are accused of beating a 66-year-old Navy veteran outside the American Legion post on Fort Caroline Road on Memorial Day weekend, bonded out of the Duval County Jail Tuesday.
William Lodge, 60, is charged with aggravated battery, a second-degree felony, which carries a penalty of up to 15 years in prison. Terry Lodge, 55, is charged with third-degree felony battery on a person 65 or older, which carries a penalty of up to five years in prison.
The Lodges had initially been charged with misdemeanor battery of Charles Hughes, who suffered multiple injuries and was hospitalized. He was later released.
News4Jax obtained Tuesday surveillance video from inside the American Legion post, which shows the moments leading up the beating. Witnesses said what happened in the parking lot, outside the view of the surveillance camera, was frightening.
In the video, Hughes is sitting on one side of the bar, and the Lodges are on the other side of the bar, just outside the frame, but visible in other camera angles.
UNCUT: Surveillance video captured at American Legion post
At one point in the video, Hughes and others begin throwing coasters at the bartender, who was talking to the Lodges. After a few coasters are thrown, William Lodge is seen in the video pointing and yelling at Hughes. Hughes yells back at first, before the bartender walks over and appears to be yelling at him. Shortly after that, Hughes gets up to leave.
One witness who was inside the post that night wrote in a statement to Legion board members and commander of the post dated May 31 said, "He (Hughes) threw his hands up and said he was not going to argue with them and he was going home."
That's when the video captures Hughes hugging two women near the door and walking out. Seconds later, William Lodge walks behind the bar and out the same door, following him to the parking lot, and three others inside the post go out after them.
Police said the Lodges then beat Hughes in the parking lot,
American Legion member Bill Johnson told News4Jax Wednesday that he was one of the men who went outside to make sure things were OK, but they weren't.
"Basically what was in my mind was breaking this thing up and getting any care for the person that was getting whooped on like that," Johnson said.
Johnson's wife, who's a registered nurse, tried to help Hughes in the parking lot until rescuers arrived.
She said in a written statement dated June 1, "I applied pressure to the victim's nose, and back of the head, to stop the flow of blood. With other Legion patrons; we got the victim off the ground and into a chair."
Johnson said he isn't surprised with the new felony charges, but said the legal process still has to play out.
"If that's what the law states for this type of crime, then that's what the judge should take. It's up to the judge, and maybe a jury, to decide if they are guilty or not, not me or anyone else," Johnson said.
News4Jax reached out to the attorney for the Lodges Wednesday for comment on both the video and the new charges, but he has not yet responded.
News4Jax also called William Lodge, who hung up the phone.
Hughes' attorney declined to comment when News4Jax asked him about the surveillance video.