Harvey Updyke, the University of Alabama fan charged with poisoning landmark trees at Auburn’s Toomer’s Corner, was assaulted at an Opelika area convenience store, a Montgomery, Ala., TV station is reporting.
Updyke’s attorney, Glennon Threatt, Jr., confirmed to WSFA-TV that his client was assaulted at the Tiger Express convenience store.
Updyke was taken to a local hospital with a head injury. He has since been released, WSFA said.
Threatt on Wednesday said prosecutors rejected a plea deal where his client would have avoided serving additional time in jail.
Threatt said he made what he calls a "low-ball" offer to the district attorney's office on behalf of Updyke, but prosecutors refused. Threatt said he expects Updyke to be in court for a hearing scheduled for Wednesday afternoon, but it's unclear exactly what will happen.
"We had made what was an optimistic deal," Threatt said. "As a defense lawyer my first job is to keep my client out of jail if I can. It seemed to me somebody should reach out and start negotiations."
Threatt said he expects to waive a preliminary hearing where some evidence could be presented. He said alternatives to a prison sentence for the 62-year-old Updyke, who has health problems, include outpatient mental health counseling, electronic monitoring and supervised probation.
Prosecutors haven't commented.
Lee County Sheriff Jay Jones tells WSFA 12 News "I can state that is unequivocally that an attack did not happen before Updyke entered in to the hearing. He appeared to be fine and was fine. As to what happened after, we have heard nothing about the attack."
Updyke is free on bond after being charged with first-degree criminal mischief in the poisoning of the trees at Toomer's Corner, where Auburn fans have for decades celebrated sports victories, including heaving toilet paper into the branches of the 130-year-old oaks. If convicted, he could face one to 10 years in prison.
Updyke has admitted to calling a radio show Jan. 27 saying he poisoned the historic trees with a herbicide known as "Spike 80DF" and to leaving a phone message for an Auburn professor claiming knowledge of the poisoning, court documents said.
But Threatt said his client told police he didn't poison the trees.
The tree poisoning has angered Auburn fans, prompting thousands of people to attend a "Toomer's Tree Hug" just over a week after the football team won its first national championship in more than a half-century. Threatt has said Updyke's tires were slashed in a Walmart parking lot.
The plight of the trees also shined a harsh light on a rivalry that engulfs a state with no major professional sports teams 365 days a year and sometimes boils over in ugly ways.
Updyke signed off from the radio show "Roll Damn Tide." He has children named Crimson Tyde and Bear, after iconic coach Bear Bryant.
But Alabama fans have risen to defense of the oaks, with one group collecting $50,000 for a fund dedicated to the trees.
Auburn horticulture professor Gary Keever said Tuesday that only trace elements of Spike 80DF found around one of the trees "were so low that there's absolutely no danger to humans or the environment."
"It's not showing any symptoms of poisoning right now," Keever said.
He said the other tree is not in such good shape, with many branches having no leaves or much smaller ones, with yellowed edges.
Auburn people have used Toomer's Corner as a meeting place since the school was established in 1856. Former Auburn athletic director David Housel said it morphed into what it is today in 1972, when Tigers star Terry Henley said "we're going to go beat the No. 2 out of Alabama."
Auburn fans then started the toilet paper tradition after a 17-16 victory.
The Associated Press contributed to this article
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