GASTON COUNTY, N.C. — Meredith Scruggs spent six months in the hospital after a roadside attack in Gaston County. Now, four years later, the mixed martial arts trainer accused of beating him is on trial.
Channel 9′s Ken Lemon was inside the courtroom Tuesday for opening arguments. During Tuesday’s proceedings, the suspect claimed it was all in self-defense.
Kyle Gray is trained in mixed martial arts, but his attorney says his actions in August 2020 were just to protect himself, saying Scruggs threatened to kill Gray and even put him in a hold.
Jurors heard those words followed by testimony from the man still impacted by the beating four years ago.
Scruggs, now 74, testified that he spent months in the hospital after his confrontation with Gray in 2020. It’s a fight he says changed his life.
“I have trouble seeing out of this eye, I had to get glasses - I never wore glasses in my entire life,” Scruggs said while on the witness stand Tuesday.
The former college athlete and high school wrestling and football coach said he had a broken rib, punctured lung, staples in his head, and a fractured skull.
Prosecutors say Gray is trained to use his hands to inflict pain, and they say he used that training to almost take a man’s life.
But Scruggs admits he doesn’t remember much more than the few moments before the fight on Wilkinson Boulevard in Belmont.
“After that, do you remember any other details?” Prosecutor Rebekah Mills asked Scruggs.
“No, ma’am,” he responded.
Scruggs says his next memory was waking up in the hospital 20 days later.
Meredith Scruggs in the hospital
“When I woke up, I had like three or four tubes in me,” Scruggs said.
Gray’s attorney says Gray remembers the confrontation, and he says it started with a road rage incident and the older man shouting in traffic.
“[Scruggs] uses profane language and threatens to shoot [Gray],” said Jeremy Smith, Gray’s attorney.
Smith says when the two men stopped at a gas station, Scruggs, who was 70 years old at the time but several inches taller than Gray, started the fight.
“Scruggs grabs Kyle, he puts him a hold,” Smith said.
The attorney said jurors learn what Gray remembers.
“You will hear from Mr. Gray, he will testify, there’s no doubt about that,” Smith said during opening arguments.
The trial will continue Wednesday morning and is expected to wrap up in a couple of days. Channel 9 will keep an eye on developments and bring you updates.
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Woman shot in car believes she was victim of road rage
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