richard suarez military

Richard Suarez Military - MANDEVILLE, La. (WVUE) - One man was arrested and another became violent after a verbal altercation in a Mandeville parking lot.

The video of the collision has been widely shared on social networks. Witnesses say the dispute began on Monday, December 13 over a parking space. It shows a man identified by police as Richard Suarez arguing with several women after parking in the emergency lane outside a busy strip mall on the 190 Freeway.

Richard Suarez Military

Another man intervenes and exchanges words with Suarez. The two men disappeared into the back of the car, and that's when police say Suarez hit the man. The victim, who remains unidentified, is seen in the video falling to the concrete.

China 'hypocritical' On Covid Testing Requirement

A spokesman for the Mandeville Police Department said they do not know what branch of the military Suarez may be in or whether he is active or retired.

"What I saw yesterday is why I live in Mandeville. I'm proud of our citizens and our police department for making the arrest," Mayor Clay Madden told Fox 8.

Suarez was arrested on suspicion of battery. A St. John's Parish judge Tammany set his bail at $1 million on Tuesday.

Richard Suarez was granted $1 million bail after a viral video showed an elderly man kneeling in a Mandeville parking lot. (STPSO)

Attorney Explains What Caused Viral Parking Lot Incident In Mandeville

"This has created a lot of social media and people want an immediate solution, but they need to be reassured that the police will take care of it and let it play out." said Chief Todd Schliem.

Schliem says he believes the victim has been released from the hospital. Eyewitnesses say that when the ambulances removed him from the scene, he made contact.

See a spelling or grammar mistake in our story? Click here to report. Please include a title. For months, Richard Suarez says he struggled with post-traumatic stress disorder that began during a nine-month combat deployment in northern Iraq and continued after he returned to Mandeville in October, where his wife and four children were seen. Tough change in Louisiana National Guard captain.

"I thought, 'If I go home, everything will be fine, with my wife and children, in my bed, I can rest a bit,'" Suarez, 39, said. No sleep when he and his friends were under fire from rockets and artillery. As a helicopter pilot, medical options were limited.

Exercise Talisman Sabre 2019: Demonstrates High Mobility Artillery Rocket System In Australia > U.s. Indo Pacific Command > 2015

He went from fearing that he would never see his children again and graduated to suicidal thoughts that they would be better off without him.

"A line was crossed," said Suarez, now a patient in a mental health facility. "My heart jumped out of my chest, I was sweating, my hands were shaking... I broke down crying uncontrollably."

As he and his wife, Morgan, prepared to leave for the New Orleans VA hospital in hopes that he would be admitted, they stopped at a busy and crowded Mandeville mall where his wife wanted a UPS. Leaving a Christmas package at the store.

What was later captured on cell phone video was widely shared on social media. An angry and cursing Suarez is seen in a parking lot yelling at a woman walking by and then a stranger who pulled him over for his behavior.

Jimmie Johnson Will Return To Nascar With Richard Petty

Suarez can be heard on the recording telling the man, "I can be violent with you because you're a man" and "I'm going to kill you (inexplicably).

His wife came out of the store to find him parked a short distance away, shivering. She was afraid to go with him to New Orleans and eventually his mother took him to the VA hospital where he was admitted.

That's when the Mandeville police arrived, armed with a warrant to arrest him and take him back to the North Shore. He was eventually incarcerated in St. Mary's Parish Prison. Tammany on felony charges of second-degree battery, and two counts of simple assault, two counts of simple assault and one count of disturbing the peace through language, all misdemeanors.

The man who punched him, Mike Pennington, was at the mall that day trying to figure out how to send gumbo to friends in Arizona. Pennington said he is fine but still in pain from the attack. His legs were hurt when he fell, his breathing was labored and he still had a lump in his jaw.

Diamondback, Yearbook Of St. Mary's University, 1963

Pennington doesn't remember what happened immediately before he was shot, but when he regained consciousness, people were standing over him telling him not to try to get up. He was treated in hospital and released with an order to rest for 10 days before returning to work as a chemist on the South Coast.

Pennington said he had trouble sleeping after the attack. "My mind was racing. I found myself thinking about what happened." He declined to comment on Suarez's claim that he has PTSD.

But the 60-year-old doesn't regret the intervention because he says he thought Suarez was going to hurt someone.

"The things I was saying are scary for me," Suarez said. "Before this appointment, I would never have said something like that."

Mission 600: Austin Dillon, No. 3 Pit Crew Work Out With Soldiers At U.s. Army Central Kuwait

When he went through demobilization, the process by which service members are tested physically and mentally before returning home, he says he didn't think about impending doom, sleeplessness or hopelessness. It didn't hold anything. He said he has been diagnosed with PTSD and has a 90-day no-fire order. He was sent home and contacted the VA.

"I have repeatedly requested patient appointments," he said, but due to the COVID restrictions, he was only able to get Zoom appointments.

Suarez later learned from his chain of command that others on the deployment had committed suicide.

But he said he is finally resting and starting to heal. And while he marked the second Christmas in a row, he could not be with his family, "I don't want to die either."

Mdoy 2018 Hi Res Stock Photography And Images

He said he heard firsthand that Pennington is doing well and is expected to recover. "I'm very grateful for that," Suarez said.

Suarez said he decided to speak out about what happened to his family, which has faced backlash and threats on social media.

"There's more to this story than was shown — if not to me, to the next veteran ... 22 who kill themselves every day, I know now. I didn't know it before, but I know it now."