OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — An Oklahoma City man is facing criminal charges, accused of attacking a woman he didn’t know with a baseball bat while she was on her way home.
The incident happened early this summer, but the Oklahoma County District Attorney’s office didn’t file charges until Wednesday. Mataa Over is identified in documents as the suspect in the case. Victim Megan Stanley told police and NewsNation affiliate KFOR the incident happened while she was driving home after picking up dinner.
Stanley says she and her passengers observed Over standing in the street holding a metal bat. Over allegedly yelled something at Stanley and she turned her vehicle around. She says she was concerned with the safety of others in the neighborhood. She says she had no intention of escalating things, and that Over instigated the conflict.
“He hit the back of my vehicle with a baseball bat,” said Stanley. “I stopped my car and I started to get out and I was like, ‘what the hell are you doing?'”
Stanley says that after she got out of the car to confront Over, he allegedly swung the bat and forcefully hit her right upper thigh with it.
“I tried to stand up again to get in my car and I just, I couldn’t,” said Stanley. “I couldn’t put any weight on my leg.”
Court documents say she was taken to the hospital and had a large, fresh bruise on her upper right thigh consistent with being struck by a bat. An office also noted a large dent in Stanley’s trunk area of her vehicle consistent with being struck by a bat.
KFOR employees stopped by Over’s address for comment. The lights were on inside of the home but no one answered the door.
Over did admit to police, according to an affidavit, that he walked down the street to confront Stanley because he says she was driving too fast near his children. He admitted to swinging the bat at her vehicle but didn’t want to talk about what happened after she got out and they argued.
Stanley denies that she was speeding in the neighborhood.
“I do hope that he knows that he did something very wrong and that he could have really, really changed a couple of lives that day,” said Stanley. “It is a traumatic experience and it’s permanent in my mind and in my heart.”
Over is facing one count of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, a felony if he’s convicted.
Stanley says she’s learned to call police in the future if she has suspicions about a person’s activity, but offered more advice to Oklahomans that may get frustrated during any kind of argument or confrontation.
“Know that, if you’re going to confront anybody, they’re human too and do it with grace and obviously not violence,” said Stanley.
