Man attacked in Hobby Lobby parking lot

By Robin Dorner
Editor in Chief

An Oklahoma City man was attacked in the parking lot of an area Hobby Lobby this past May. Since then, a strange twist of events has happened with his case.

“We bought a television, but had nothing to put it on,” said Timothy Lambert, 28, who lives in the area. “We decided to go to Hobby Lobby to find something.”

Lambert waited in the car with his dog, Kipling, while his husband went inside.

“I stayed in the car with the dog; the windows were up; air conditioning was on while we waited. Then, my husband called and asked me to come in to look at the table to see if it was the correct size.”

It was early in May, and the man felt comfortable rolling the windows down slightly, made sure the dog had plenty of water. He went into the store to check out the table his husband selected.

“I rolled down the windows and gave the dog water.

“I came back out, in literally less than five minutes, and saw parked next to my car an SUV with an older and younger female in the car. The younger of the two, who I later found out was the daughter, said, ‘Are you going to leave that dog in the car the whole day?’ I explained. I ran in for about three minutes and told her I was getting a measurement.”

Lambert said the woman complained further about the dog being in the car. “She asked again was I going to I leave him there the whole day?”

At this point, Lambert, who says it takes a lot to upset him, became annoyed.

“I said, ‘Frankly ma’am, it’s none of your business. It’s my car, my dog and would you just leave me alone?’” It was at this point the man was assaulted.

“The older lady gets out of the other side of the car, comes toward me and grabs my arm and spits on me. I reacted and said, ‘You bitch,’ and she tightened her grip.

“I was trying to pull away. All I could think of to do was to spit back to get away from her, and she let go. I didn’t want to hit the woman.”

The woman returned to her vehicle. Lambert ran into the store and said, “I need to talk to a manager. I was assaulted in the parking lot.

“I motioned to my husband, and he came over to where I was. I told him I had been assaulted. He asked if I got their license plate.”

Lambert said he was so startled at the woman who spat on and assaulted him; he hadn’t thought to get the license plate.

“I go back outside, and they are leaving. They see me and stop abruptly. The mother comes out of the car, and she said, ‘what are you doing?’”

“She said, ‘Who’s that.’ I turned to see him and said, ‘It’s my husband,’ and she said, ‘You fucking fa%gots.’”

“I’ve lived in lots of places, and other countries and have never been treated like that.”

Lambert’s husband said to the woman, “The police have been called.”

Lambert said as they drove away, he got their license plate number.

Lambert’s husband went back inside to talk to the manager, who maintained they do not have cameras covering the parking lot.

“So, I’m outside with the dog in the car. Later my husband told me when talking to the manager, the manager wanted nothing to do with it, and tried several times to rush my husband out the door.”

Lambert said before the police showed up, almost every person he passed, every person he saw, was apologizing to him about what they had seen.

There was a woman, I think her name is Sheri, who gave me her number and said to call her if I need a witness.”

Soon after, the police arrived on the scene, body cam intact and running. The Gayly filed a Freedom of Information to obtain the body cam video which is posted here.

“Suddenly, Animal Control shows up, and the cop was like, ‘What is going on here. This is assault and battery.’”

 “I let them see the dog and that he was in good health, and they see nothing is wrong.

“At about the same time the police find out my husband could have a picture of the woman on his phone. I went inside to get his phone and came back out.

“I gave the witness contact information to the police and later found out the piece of paper was never entered in the report and was not listed as evidence.”

To this day, the slip of paper with the witness’s contact information has not been found. Lambert said he was able to later view the video from the officer’s body cam.

“My giving the officer the paper, which had the witness's contact information, is in the video of the officer’s body cam.”

He told the officer he wanted to file charges. Lambert gave the officer his pertinent information.

“I described her to the police officer. Clothes and everything.”

The police used the body cam and a camera to document the bruising resulting from the assault. The incident was May 7. By May 10, the bruising from the attack had progressed, spreading and becoming much darker.

“The officer called me and said they found the woman, spoke with her and got her statement. He then came to meet me outside my home.

“At that point, he basically tells me that she wants to file charges against me for having spat on her. She was only going to file charges if I filed charges,” said Lambert.

“It's a self-defense case,” said Frank Urbanic, Oklahoma City, criminal defense attorney (www.urbanic.law). “It was the same incident. She clearly had a strong grip on him, and it [the spitting] was his reaction. If he had walked away, then came back and had done something to her then, he would have been the aggressor.”

Lambert said when the officer told him she had filed a counter complaint, he was shocked and said he didn’t even know that was allowed.

“I went and looked up state statutes and found the Oklahoma Statue for assault.”

The Oklahoma Statute for “Justifiable Use of Nondeadly Force, 21 O.S. § 643(3) states, “A person is justified in using force in self-defense if that person reasonably believed that the use of force was necessary to protect himself/herself from imminent danger of bodily harm. …”

“I asked the officer what happens next. He said the complaint gets turned in and the prosecutor decides whether or not to press charges,” Lambert said.

“It’s the prosecutor’s choice to file the charge,” Urbanic added. “It just seems odd there should be charge just because she said, ‘If he charges me, I’ll charge him.’”

Lambert waited about a week and called the officer. That’s when he found out the city of was prosecuting him for assault and battery.

“I assume the prosecutor was given the context of the story, but I am completely confused as to why the prosecutor chose to charge me. That’s one of the things that frustrates my husband and me, is that the justice system works this way.

“It seems like the justice system worked against me. Taking it to the nth degree, if someone was trying to shoot me, I could try to hit them with a pipe, but I could get prosecuted for trying to protect myself.”

Lambert said it’s also the cost. “Not just the money. I mean, there’s that, but I have to schedule time off work to go to court multiple times to see Frank [the attorney], I have to put gas in my car for these things, and it’s disruptive to my life.”

Urbanic said it just didn’t smell right to him, “The only reason my client was charged is that he wanted to file charges against her?”

Another reason Lambert wants to pursue the case is that he wants the woman to know that this is totally unacceptable.

“You can’t just assault someone because they are exhibiting behavior you don’t like. “I just want justice,” he said

Lambert said he was insulted by what the prosecutor offered. “She asked, ‘How much do you want to pay [fine]? Basically, I thought, nothing.”

The assailant pled no contest. The Prosecutor offered Lambert a plea of three months’ probation and a fine of $466.

“I though wait; you are going to offer me the same thing as you offered the woman who assaulted me.

“I said, ‘Hell no.’"

The case is set for trial on August 27.

Copyright The Gayly 8/21/2018 @ 5:11 p.m. CST.