A Sandy Hook man is recovering from serious injuries suffered in an assault earlier this week and his daughter hopes his assailant is convicted and sentenced to prison.
“I’m hopeful that justice will be served,” Renee Pounds Thames said after the assault of her father outside a local eatery Tuesday. “I want justice to be served. My father was just trying to get a warm meal. People like that don’t need to be running loose on the streets.”
Marion County Sheriff’s Office investigators say Sedgie Lewis, 48, of Columbia was arrested Tuesday in connection with the assault of Carl Pounds outside the Country Diner on Mississippi 35 South.
Lewis faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted and had his bond set Wednesday at $25,000 in Marion County Justice Court. Capt. Pete Williams said deputies received a call about Lewis and responded.
“We were told he was having suicidal and homicidal thoughts,” Williams said. “He told them he wanted to go to the hospital. As they were walking toward the ambulance, he suddenly hit the victim. Deputies subdued him and arrested him.”
Thames said her father happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
“He lives by himself and likes to go down there and eat,” Thames said. “He was down there and was eating and Sedgie Lewis was outside and they said he was pacing back and forth and had a backpack on. Ms. Candia (Love, the owner) had called the law and the sheriff’s department, the highway patrol, the game warden and AAA Ambulance showed up. I’d been told he had been in fights before.”
Thames said her father finished eating and was unaware of what was transpiring outside.
“He got to his truck, which was parked close to the road and he was unlocking it,” she said. “He was getting in and the ambulance was parked closer to the highway. Lewis was being walked past daddy by the sheriff’s department and AAA and daddy’s back was turned. He (Lewis) started screaming at daddy and hit him. Daddy fell to the ground, the sheriff’s department tased him and knocked him (Lewis) to the ground and got him arrested.”
The blows by Lewis on Pounds crushed his eye socket, his cheekbones, broke his jaw and gave have a compression fracture. Pounds will need several surgeries to repair the damage.
“He went to his plastic surgeon in Hattiesburg today and was told that he needed three to four plates put in,” she said. “There would be plates and screws and the surgery could take three to five hours. Daddy’s face is extensively damaged.”
Pounds has battled colorectal cancer, according to his daughter and the surgery could be dangerous for him. He had chemo and radiation and had part of his colon out.
“He’s been sickly ever since,” she said. “Once you have that kind of surgery, you’re never the same. He’s been through a lot. After this, he’s been so sick with the pain and all. He’s so weak right now and a five-hour surgery would be very hard on him. We’re trying to pray about it and see. I would hate for something to happen to my daddy on the operating table. My kids would die if something happened to their grandfather. This attack came out of nowhere – my father didn’t even know the man.”
Thames said she is hopeful the case makes it through the court system and her father can see his accuser sentenced for his actions.
“Justice will be served,” she said. “I will be there every time they have court. I want to see justice served. It needs to be served. You don’t go around mistreating people and beating them up for no reason. My father was minded his own business. There’s no sense in it. I’m heartbroken over this. That’s my daddy. He doesn’t ever meet a stranger and he’s a friendly person.”
Lewis remained in the Marion County Regional Correctional Facility as of deadline Thursday.
