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FORT WORTH, Texas - A mother was apparently picked out at random by an attacker and punched in the face in Downtown Fort Worth while walking with her children.
Police caught a suspect, and records show he has done something like this several times.
The man arrested for an attack on a woman in Fort Worth has served time several times for similar, seemingly random attacks.
Jennifer Leedy still has the visible wounds from Sunday's assault in Downtown Fort Worth at Throckmorton and West Fourth streets.
According to public records, 33-year-old David Earl Thomas has a history of randomly sucker-punching women in the face. In all three cases, the victims were knocked to the ground without warning.
Thomas was arrested Wednesday and charged with aggravated assault. His latest alleged victim is relieved.
Leedy is resting a little easier knowing that the man believed to have sucker punched her in front of her two young daughters is now in police custody.
“We are thrilled that he is off the streets, and we need to keep him off the streets,” she said.
The Collin County mother was in Downtown Fort Worth Sunday afternoon attending her 12-year-old daughter's dance recital. Leedy's 6-year-old daughter was there as well. The three were walking back to their car when Leedy says a man hit her in the face without warning.
“We were going one way and he was going the other way on the same sidewalk. And we got closer and closer. And all of a sudden, he just charged,” Leedy recalled. “I think I turned my face, and he just punched me right in the face.”
Leedy was knocked to the ground with her nose broken. Her attacker took off.
On Wednesday morning, Leedy and her oldest daughter were called to the Fort Worth Police Department to look at suspect photographs. She says they both picked the same man as the attacker, 34-year-old David Thomas. He has been convicted of assaulting women in a similar manner.
“My biggest concern is there's a big history with him,” she said.
Thomas served time for sucker punching a woman who was walking to her car at Tarrant County Community College in April 2017. He was also arrested in February 2018 when he also did time for punching a woman in the face as she was walking her dogs on Lancaster Avenue. In all three cases, the women say Thomas never said a word to them.
Thomas has also served time for four other assaults and several other crimes.
According to public records, Thomas was sentenced to 180 days in jail for the assault in February 2018.
The Leedys say they plan to work with the Collin County District Attorney's Office to get him the maximum punishment.