Men arrested after wild street fight in east Athens

Joe Lewis Harper

By Joe Johnson

Two men were arrested late the night of October 4th after a street fight in which one repeatedly tried to run down the other with a sport utility vehicle.

The men reportedly were fighting because one of them wouldn’t pay for a car ride to go buy crack cocaine.

An officer reported that he was on patrol at around 11:45 p.m. when he was alerted to the incident that was captured by a surveillance camera involving 61-year-old Joe Lewis Harper and 68-year-old Charlie Dan Faust Jr.

Footage of the incident on Vine Street showed the two men arguing and then Faust throwing an object at Harper’s Fiord Explorer.

Harper then tried to hit Faust with vehicle but he jumped out of the way and chucked a rock at the Explorer, but missed,

“Faust then picked up a cinder block and threw it into the back windshield of Harper’s vehicle, causing it to break,” the police officer reported.

The officer arrived at the scene to see Harper make another attempt to run down the other man before racing over with lights and siren and at gunpoint ordered Harper to get out of his vehicle.

When he refused, the officer pulled Harper out, put him on the ground and handcuffed him,

It was later learned that the men had been fighting over Faust refusing to pay for a ride so that he could buy crack.

Harper was also determined to be intoxicated during the incident.

He was arrested on charges of aggravated assault, DUI, reckless driving, and possession of an open container of alcohol in a vehicle,

Faust also was arrested for aggravated assault, and additionally charged with criminal damage to the Explorer,

Charlie Dan Faust Jr.