WESTON, W.Va. (WBOY) — A man has been charged after allegedly assaulting a victim near a middle school in Lewis County.

On Aug. 28, deputies with the Lewis County Sheriff’s Department were dispatched to the area of Court Avenue in Weston due to a reported altercation, according to a criminal complaint.

While en route, deputies were informed that the caller had “heard yelling coming from outside his residence” and then saw “a male subject wearing a red shirt who appeared to be bleeding from his face,” deputies said.

Deputies then went to a residence on Court Avenue, across the street from Robert L. Bland Middle School, to meet with the victim “who wanted to report an assault.” Deputies observed “what appeared to be a laceration above his right eyebrow temple area and blood about the face and left arm,” according to the complaint.

The victim told deputies that a man, later identified as Derek Woodson, 35, of Weston, “struck him with something” during an altercation, and that Woodson was with a woman and riding a bicycle, deputies said.

When deputies arrived at the location of the incident, they “observed blood on the sidewalk and road, as well as what appeared to be a handprint on a vehicle parked on the street,” and also noted that a nearby house had surveillance cameras which may have recorded the incident, according to the complaint.

Deputies spoke with the caller, who stated that in the incident, Woodson “appeared to be ‘very angry’ yelling at someone behind him,” and then approached the victim; the caller then contacted 911 to report the incident, and when he came back, he saw the victim “bent over picking up his sunglasses while bleeding from his face” and then walked away “toward the middle school,” deputies said.

On Aug. 29, deputies obtained security footage of the incident which showed Woodson assaulting the victim while another individual attempted to “de-escalate the situation,” according to the complaint.

On Aug. 30, deputies were able to identify the attacker as Woodson, and a warrant for his arrest was issued on Sept. 4, deputies said. Woodson has been charged with malicious assault. He is being held in Central Regional Jail.

In a statement on Monday , the Weston Police Department said that the altercation was an “isolated incident and not a random act of violence.”

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