Trial starts today for Poulan resident

Troy Dale West Jr., 48, was indicted last year on charges of aggravated assault, false imprisonment, first-degree cruelty to children, two counts of battery and two counts of disorderly conduct.

West is charged with beating and kicking Tashawnea Hill as she walked out of the Morrow restaurant on Sept. 9, 2009. Hill’s 7-year-old daughter watched as West assaulted her mother while yelling racial slurs, police said.

According to the indictment, West used his “shoe-clad foot and hands” to cause serious bodily injury to Hill.

West also maliciously caused “cruel and excessive mental pain” to the child by assaulting and battering her mother in front of her while “using profane and vulgar language,” the indictment reads.

If convicted, West could face a decade in prison.

The attack occurred as Hill and her daughter were leaving the restaurant and West was walking inside. Hill told West to be careful after the door almost hit her child, police said.

West became enraged and then attacked the woman, Morrow police Capt. James Callaway said.

“She kept saying, ‘Sir, I’m a United States soldier, don’t do this, ‘ ” he said.

The FBI is also investigating the attack as a possible hate crime.

West runs Troy’s Paint & Body & Auto Savage in Poulan, where he also lives.