Sebastion Wilbanks managed to block the incoming baseball bat with his left arm. But he couldn't stop the brass knuckles, which struck him in the head and knocked him out in a Food Lion parking lot, police said.
While recuperating at Parkridge East Hospital last week, Wilbanks described to police the assault that landed one of three men arrested in connection with the 2014 Lookout Valley triple homicide back in jail. Before Friday, Jacob Allison was on supervised release for his pending murder charges.
Wilbanks was waiting in the parking lot between 12:30 and 3 a.m. with a friend, Chelsea Underwood, because his sister had been fighting with her boyfriend, Allison, and needed a ride home, he told police.
When a white pickup truck rolled into the parking lot, Wilbanks noticed it was Allison and another girl, he told police. As Allison approached, he swung a baseball bat into the Mazda passenger window, police said.
Wilbanks hopped out of the car and asked Allison what he was doing. But Allison responded by hitting him in the ear with the bat. When Allison swung again, Wilbanks deflected the bat with his arm. But the passenger knocked him down with a pair of brass knuckles, after which she and Allison took turns hitting him, police said.
Around that time, Underwood got out of the vehicle to help. But Allison's passenger grabbed her by the hair and pinned her to the ground, police said. When Wilbanks came to, he hit the passenger to get her off - then punched out Allison's truck window.
He told police he didn't want to file charges against Allison, who already faces three counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted first-degree murder. Prosecutors claim that when Allison was 15, he drove Derek Morse and Skyler Allen to an RV lot at 4504 Kellys Ferry Road off Cummings Highway on April 9, 2014. There, Allen and Morse allegedly opened fire, killing three men and wounding a fourth.
Allison was indicted separately after Juvenile Court Judge Rob Philyaw determined he would be tried as an adult in September 2014. After spending the first two years in custody, Allison's defense attorney, Lee Davis, secured his release onto house arrest in May 2016.
Allison had explicit instructions: Stay with his father in Dade County, Ga., and contact Davis every Monday morning at 9 a.m. Because of this incident, Criminal Court Judge Barry Steelman revoked Allison's release Tuesday, when he was scheduled to appear.
Attorneys then agreed to send him to Silverdale Correctional Facility, where he will be held without bond. He has a 9 a.m. hearing Thursday in Hamilton County General Sessions Court on the assault and vandalism charges.
Morse and Allen, meanwhile, are being held without bond in the county jail. They are scheduled to go to trial together May 30, unless Steelman rules in early February to "sever" their cases.
Allison's next court date before Steelman is also May 30.
Contact staff writer Zack Peterson at zpeterson@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6347. Follow him on Twitter @zackpeterson918.