Altercation at Walhalla Restaurant Leads to Assault Charges

An incident Friday afternoon resulted in one man being taken to jail and another being transported to a burn center for treatment.

49 year-old Thomas Lamar Cobb, Jr is in custody at the Oconee County Detention Center pending bond. He is charged with two counts of third degree assault and battery and one count of first degree assault and battery.

Walhalla Police said the responded to a fight at Zaxby’s restaurant on Friday around 3:45pm. According to police, a manager on scene told them an employee, identified as Cobb, assaulted three other employees and one was in need of medical attention from getting hot grease thrown in his face.

Police added that EMS arrived and administered medical attention to the victim with severe burns and skin missing on his face, eye, hands, shoulder, and back.

Cobb allegedly told police that he had been drinking at work and he got into an argument with one of the victim’s and then they got into a fight, investigators said. According to a police incident report, Cobb stated that he threw something at the victim, while one victim stated she was struck by the offender during and another victim stated that he was grabbed around the throat by the offender. Both stated that Cobb threw hot grease on another employee, according to the report.