Fired Applebee’s Employee Attacks Tuscaloosa Police Officer at University Mall

A Tuscaloosa woman is facing a felony assault charge after she allegedly attacked a police officer who was attempting to remove her from the Applebee's Grill in the University Mall after she was fired there.

In court documents filed Wednesday, a Tuscaloosa Police Officer said he was called to the mall around 5:30 p.m. last Sunday to trespass 20-year-old Jateeya Jamila Martin, who had allegedly been fired at Applebee's and refused to leave the restaurant.

The TPD officer reportedly got to the scene and asked Martin for her name several times, but the young woman refused to cooperate and eventually began to walk away from the scene without identifying herself.

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The officer then attempted to arrest her for Obstructing Governmental Operations, a misdemeanor, for her refusal to obey his orders.

Martin allegedly shoved the officer "through a table and chairs" before punching and kicking him multiple times while he was on the ground.

The officer said in the court documents that he suffered swelling and a shallow cut to his face and bruising on his hip and leg during the alleged attack.

Eventually, though, the officer regained control and successfully arrested the woman.

A subsequent search then allegedly turned up two grams of marijuana in a zippered pouch in Martin's purse.

The woman likely could have avoided arrest by leaving the area after she was trespassed, but instead Martin is now charged with one misdemeanor count of obstructing governmental operations, one misdemeanor count of second-degree possession of marijuana and one felony count of second-degree assault.

Martin was booked in the Tuscaloosa County Jail on a combined $17,000 bond and has since been released on bail.

Because she is no longer an inmate, her mugshot was not publicly available at the time of this report Thursday.

For more coverage of crime and courts in West Alabama, stay connected to the Tuscaloosa Thread.