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HICKORY – Community support and tips led Hickory Police to arrest a suspect Thursday in the assault of a 78-year-old retired Army veteran who suffered a broken jaw.

Maureen Stonemetz, the victim’s wife, said the incident occurred on June 19 at the couple's home on Wandering Lane NE. She said a white male in his 30s drove a gloss camouflage green ATV across their lawn. The victim, James Stonemetz, went outside to tell the driver to get the vehicle off the lawn.

“I heard him gun his engines – you do that, you’re going to tear up the yard,” James Stonemetz said. “He cut straight across my yard.”

Stonemetz said the driver got off his ATV and struck him in the jaw.

Clarence Martin Hayes III, 33, was charged with assault inflicting serious injury after information from the community lead officers to his identification.

EMS transported James to Frye Regional Medical Center, where doctors referred him to Wake Forest Baptist Health. Doctors determined that both of his jaws were fractured and his jaw had to be wired shut.

“Do I look like enough of a threat that I have to get my jaw broken?” James Stonemetz said. “I’m a disabled veteran. I served in Vietnam and was exposed to Agent Orange.”