NAACP calls for attempted murder charge for white golfer accused of attacking black player

A white Memphis golfer has been charged with aggravated assault after allegedly striking a black player in the head with a club, necessitating emergency surgery to repair ‘significant brain damages,’ according to authorities.

Memphis police say Wesley Caldwell, 22, of Nesbit, Mississippi struck Marc Coleman in the head with his club on December 3. The incident at the Links at Whitehaven course allegedly began with Caldwell becoming angry with Coleman hitting a ball onto his hole.

One witness, who was playing with Coleman, said Caldwell picked up Coleman’s ball, threw it across the course, and then used a golf club to hit Coleman on the left side of his face. Coleman fell to the ground, and was later airlifted to the hospital with a fractured skull and bleeding of his brain, according to WREG.com.

Coleman, who is black, remains hospitalized on a ventilator, Vann Turner, president of the Memphis chapter of the NAACP, told Fox 13 Memphis.  

Monday, Caldwell was charged with aggravated assault and released on $5,000 bail – a sum that the NCAA found unacceptably low, given the defendant’s previous arrest record. 

‘Well, there’s been an aggravated assault,’ Turner said. ‘There’s been a threat against a witness in his past there’s been a couple of reckless driving charges [and a] DUI and so he’s young, but he’s had instances where he’s acted violently in the past,’ said Turner. 

Coleman’s family also objected to the $5,000 bond, arguing that it was too low, given the allegations.  

‘For the bond hearing and the bond to be so low, it’s very unacceptable,’ the victim’s brother Stephon told WREG.

‘Why is it a $5,000 bond for the damage he’s done to my stepson,’ added Willie Walker, the victim’s stepfather.

Coleman is described as a community leader, and the NAACP is now pushing to see the assault charge upgraded to ‘attempted murder.’

‘The Memphis NAACP demands justice for one of its dedicated supporters and members, Mr. Marc Coleman, who is still in the hospital today suffering from brain injuries after he was viciously attacked,’ read a statement from Tuesday, prior to Caldwell’s arraignment. ‘We join the call for the attacker’s charges to be upgraded based on the facts and circumstances of this case.’

Caldwell is due back in court on January 17.

The NAACP is arguing that Coleman was trying to calm a tense situation when he was attacked.

‘Mark was not there exchanging blow for blow with this guy,’ Turner told Fox 13 Memphis. ‘He was trying to defuse the situation and walked away and he was attacked like he was and now he’s fighting for his life.’