Harvey Updyke Claims He Was Assaulted in Opelika Near Courthouse

You haven’t forgotten about Harvey Updyke yet, have you?  You know, the crazed Alabama fan who allegedly poisoned some extremely old trees on the Auburn campus and bragged about doing it on the radio?  Updyke is back, but this time he has made his way into the news for something other than the tree poisoning incident — kind of.

Good friend Sports by Brooks called our attention to an extremely interesting story on Wednesday evening.  When he was on his way back from Lee County Courthouse Wednesday afternoon, Updyke says he was assaulted at a Tiger Express gas station in Opelika, Ala.  When asked for details on the alleged assault, Captain Allan Elkins of the Opelika Police Department told Opelika-Auburn News that Updyke “has not really been too cooperative at this point.”

What makes this story particularly interesting is that no one really saw anything, including Harvey himself.  Through his lawyer, Glennon Threatt Jr., Updyke says everything “went black” before he could even get out of his car at the gas station and he woke up on the ground next to a gas pump.  Elkins said he had a 4-inch cut above his right eye and a 1-inch scratch between the eyes, but that the extent of his injuries “does not equate to an assault charge” considering he has no information on the alleged assaulter or assaulters.

As the Auburn blog HABOTN shared with us, the clerk at the gas station says she saw absolutely nothing, which is strange because she has a clear view of every pump from where she stands/sits behind the counter in the store.  N0 surveillance footage has been released yet, but HABOTN wonders if Updyke has fabricated the story as a way to show that Lee County is a dangerous place for him.  That could result in the location of his trial being changed, potentially further away from Auburn country.

If Udyke has cooked this alleged assault up on his own, that is quite the elaborate story for a guy who admits he poisoned trees then pleads not guilty to having done it.  It’s also possible the store clerk was a hardcore Auburn fan and found out who Updyke was and decided to keep quiet about what happened.  Everything is speculation at this point and anything is possible, but you can bet there will be plenty of details to be revealed in the coming days.  Stay tuned.