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A Thomaston man is facing a charge of Simple Battery after allegedly slapping a cab driver twice in the face. According to a report by Upson County Sheriff’s Sergeant Neill Sanders, a driver for City Cab picked up three white males from Chill’s about 12:15 a.m. on Nov. 2. He was taking them to the first passenger’s address on Applewood Lane when the two passengers in the back seat began smoking. The driver asked them to stop smoking, and said the passenger behind him leaned forward and slapped him in the face. When he stopped at the intersection of Highway 19 North and Atwater Road, the passenger got out and slapped him in the face again through the open driver’s door window, then ran southwest across North Old Alabama Road and disappeared behind a house. The second passenger in the back also got out and started walking north on Hwy. 19.

Sgt. Sanders answered the call at Atwater and Hwy. 19. The third passenger, who remained with the cab, stated he did not know the passenger who had hit the driver. The second passenger came walking back south down Hwy. 19. When questioned, he identified the alleged assailant as Brenton Wayne Trice, 22. A look out was posted for Trice.

About three hours later, at 3:46 a.m., Sgt. Sanders was patrolling southbound on Hwy. 19 North at Waller Road when he saw a white male walking north. He recognized the man as Trice and stopped and placed him under arrest. According to Sanders’ report, when he arrived at the Upson County Jail with Trice, the man refused to get out of the backseat of the patrol car, and Sanders and three jail officers had to physically remove Trice from the vehicle. He was charged with Simple Battery.

In a separate incident, a Thomaston man was beaten and robbed while walking on Martin Luther King Drive. The Upson County Sheriff’s Office is looking for four suspects in the incident.

According to a report by Sgt. Sanders, he responded to a call of an assault and robbery on MLK Drive about 11:30 p.m. on Dec. 2. The victim, a black male, said he was walking home on MLK Drive when four black males in an older model black four-door Honda stopped and got out. He said they demanded he give them everything he had. He told them he didn’t have anything, but said they knocked him down and proceeded to hit and kick him in the chest and back. They then stole his wallet, which contained $85, and fled the scene in the vehicle. The victim was transported to Upson Regional Medical Center for treatment.