Chattanooga police opened an investigation this week into a man’s claim that he was assaulted by a group of teenagers downtown last weekend.
The assault became a sensation on social media, and a political issue, but police say some aspects of the uproar have not been substantiated.
The man, Chattanooga resident and warehouse company employee Stuart Doster, alleged he was attacked by “5-6 teenagers” as he was walking toward his car on Cherry Street, near Buffalo Wild Wings and the Market Street Bridge. He made the claim in a viral post he made on Facebook on Sunday evening.
The post, just under 24 hours after he said the incident took place, had been shared more than 800 times as of Friday afternoon.
Doster claimed that all of the teenagers were dressed in red shirts and that the attack started when one of them punched him in the face unexpectedly.