Report: Rock Hill car salesman assaulted co-worker with baseball bat

A Rock Hill car salesman hit a co-worker with a baseball bat during an argument over the suspect’s bragging about the number of cars he had sold, according to police.

The incident happened at about 10 a.m. Wednesday at the Toyota dealership on Galleria Boulevard, according to a police report.

The victim told officers he got into an argument with Christian Austyn Lynch, 20, because Lynch “was bragging about how many cars he sold.”

Lynch continued to “gloat about how he was a better car salesman than (the victim) and got a little cocky about it,” the report states. The victim asked Lynch to step outside, where Lynch continued the argument and threatened to fight him.

Lynch told the victim to walk toward his car in the parking lot and pulled a metal bat from his car, police said. He started pushing and shoving the victim with the bat in his hand.

The victim said he told Lynch he would shove him back, and when he went to push him, Lynch swung the bat and hit him, police said. The report doesn’t indicate where the bat hit the victim, but he showed officers a red welt and was taken to Piedmont Medical Center due to the possibility of internal injuries.

Police asked Lynch why he hit the victim, and he told them he asked the victim to leave him alone but he wouldn’t, so he swung the bat.

Lynch, of Hickory Grove, was charged with second-degree assault and battery and placed in the Rock Hill city jail, where he remained Thursday under $3,000 bond, according to jail records.

This story was originally published April 28, 2016 at 11:01 AM with the headline "Report: Rock Hill car salesman assaulted co-worker with baseball bat."