71-year-old hits pregnant woman at Macon Cheddar’s, police say. The video goes viral | Macon Telegraph

A confrontation over a parking space at a Macon restaurant escalated into an all-out brawl that ended in the arrest of a 71-year-old woman, according to a Bibb County sheriff deputy’s report.

Cellphone footage of the incident Saturday night shows a scene of people lunging and slapping each other inside the Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen.

Before deputies arrested Judy James Tucker, she told them that the incident “started over a parking spot” and it was “because she was white and it was a race issue,” the deputy’s write-up said.

Tucker, who is white, was with her son and daughter, but neither of them are named in the incident report.

The two camouflaged-clad women involved, 34-year-old Stephanie Mitchell and 27-year-old Treasure Sharpe, are black.

Mitchell told deputies she and Sharpe were backing into a parking space when Tucker’s son told them “they should learn how to park” and “called them dumb bitches,” the report said.

Mitchell, of Palmetto, went on to say that later, inside the eatery, Tucker’s son approached them again and called them “black lesbian bitches.”

That’s when Sharpe started recording video on her cellphone.

The video, which has since been posted to Facebook and has gone viral, shows Tucker’s daughter lunging at Sharpe, trying to block the cellphone.

“Are you aware that you assaulted my mother?” Tucker’s daughter said to Sharpe and Mitchell. “Are you aware? My mother is bleeding.”

Tucker can be heard on the video saying, “You were getting in our way while we tried to park.”

At some point, Tucker can be heard on the video saying, “Don’t you take a picture of me! You do not have the right to take a picture of me,” as Mitchell stood between her and Sharpe. Tucker then “lunged and struck Mrs. Sharpe in the face,” the report said.

Sharpe, of Powder Springs, can be heard in the video saying, “I’m pregnant! Look at me, I’m pregnant! You’re pushing a pregnant lady!”

Tucker can be heard replying, “well, my husband is handicapped!”

Two deputies arrived at the Riverside Drive restaurant, interviewed folks and watched cellphone videos of the incident. They could not obtain the restaurant’s surveillance due to technical problems, but that did not stop them from determining that “Tucker was the primary aggressor,” the incident report said.

“With all of the lunging and slapping happening, it was never shown through cell phone video that Mrs. Mitchell or Mrs. Sharpe did anything wrong,” the deputy’s report said. “In fact, Mrs. Mitchell tried, without fail, to stop the attack on Mrs. Sharpe.”

Tucker, of Forsyth Road, was booked in the Bibb County jail on a charge of simple assault. She had bonded out by Monday.

The incident is still being investigated and more charges may be pending.

Cheddar’s is owned by Darden Restaurants. In an emailed statement to The Telegraph, Brittany Baron, spokeswoman for Darden, said, “We were appalled by the behavior of the individuals who confronted the two female service members. Such behavior flies in the face of our values and those individuals are no longer welcome in our restaurant.”

Tucker is an artist who has, in the past, taught art classes at several Macon colleges.

In an emailed statement to The Telegraph, Mercer University spokesman Kyle Sears said Tucker is not currently employed by the school.

“She has occasionally taught an art class in the past, but will not be teaching at Mercer in the future,” Sears said.