Rock Hill man accused of kicking open hotel room door, beating victim

A Rock Hill man was arrested Wednesday after he was accused of breaking into a hotel room and assaulting a man with a plastic gun and a brick, acording to a York County Sheriff’s Office report.

The victim told deputies a man he didn’t know “with dreadlocks and a bad eye,” broke into his room in the Hillside Inn on Anderson Road, the report says.

Three other people were in the room, the report says.

The suspect was identified by deputies as Antonie Lakida Hightower, 39.

The report says the victim was “covered in blood, glassy eyed and had cuts, bruises and scrapes all over his head and chest.”

Deputies said surveillance cameras showed the suspect kicking open the victim’s hotel room and three people running out.

The suspect chased the victim with what the deputies said appeared to be a pistol, the report says.

The video shows the suspect catching the victim and he “slammed him to the ground and struck him numerous times,” the report says. The suspect also beat the victim with the pistol – which was actually a plastic BB gun – until the pistol broke, the report says.

The suspect chased the victim back into the room with a brick and continued to hit him several times, the report says.

Hightower has been charged with attempted murder, two counts of first-degree burglary, possession of a weapon during a violent crime and four counts of kidnapping.

This story was originally published August 24, 2017 at 10:39 AM with the headline "Rock Hill man accused of kicking open hotel room door, beating victim."