4 charged in brutal beating of man in Decatur County
DECATUR COUNTY, Tenn. — Three men are in custody and another is wanted on kidnapping and assault charges on accusations of brutally beating a man near Parsons.
Joseph Doyle, David Parrot and Mason Niece all have been arrested in the Feb. 21 incident, according to the Decatur County Sheriff’s Office. Cody Parrott is still wanted as a national fugitive at large.
Doyle is also accused of sexually assaulting the victim.
The situation reportedly stemmed from a report of the victim assaulting his girlfriend, who is Joseph Doyle’s daughter. However, the girlfriend dropped the domestic assault charges on March 7.
The incident began when the victim, who lives in Iuka, Miss., drove to Parsons on Feb. 21 to pick up his girlfriend who had been staying there with her uncle, David Parrott, for the past few weeks, according to a release from the sheriff’s office.
The victim and a friend arrived at Sonic in Parsons around 10:30 p.m. to pick up the girlfriend.
She arrived a few minutes later in a truck driven by Mason Niece of Parsons. As she walked toward the vehicle where her boyfriend was, Niece then put the truck in reverse and blocked the boyfriend in the Sonic parking lot.
The vehicle in which the boyfriend was a passenger then backed into Niece’s truck and left the parking lot headed east on Highway 412 toward Perryville.
The victim later told investigators they were chased by several vehicles that eventually surrounded them and ran them off the road.
Witnesses and the victim say several men with flashlights chased the victim into the woods.
According to the sheriff’s office, Doyle and Niece both assaulted the victim by hitting him in the head with a brick.
David and Cody Parrott then assaulted the victim as all four men hit and kicked him in the ribs, according to the release. Cody Parrott is David Parrott’s son.
The victim told investigators he was dragged from the woods, put in the back of another vehicle and carried down the road and again into the woods.
The victim says Joseph Doyle then pulled the victim’s pants down and sexually assaulted him with stick, according to the release.
He told officers the other men in the group continued to kick and beat him before leaving him in the woods near McKenzie Road and Sardis Ridge Road.
The victim told investigators he crawled into the woods until he saw a light and passed out.
Dispatchers received a 911 call at 10:21 p.m. about a disturbance on the road, and a second call came in at 11:05 p.m. from a home on Cecil King Road to report a man on their porch bleeding heavily from the head.
David Parrott and Mason Niece both were arrested without incident around 2 a.m. Feb. 29 during a house raid conducted by the sheriff’s office and Parsons police.
David Parrott is charged with criminal responsibility for especially aggravated kidnapping and aggravated assault.
Mason Niece is charged with attempted first-degree murder and especially aggravated kidnapping.
Joseph Doyle was arrested without incident the following day in Alabama. He is charged with attempted first-degree murder, rape and especially aggravated kidnapping.
Cody Parrott is still wanted on charges of criminal responsibility for especially aggravated kidnapping and aggravated assault.
According to the sheriff’s office, the investigation is still active and new arrests are possible in regard to subjects withholding information about a fugitive, harboring a fugitive, giving false statements to officers, and coercion of witnesses in the case.
Anyone with information is urged to call the sheriff’s office at 731-852-3714. Callers can remain anonymous.
