Updated at 3:45 p.m.: Revised to include comments from a former Dallas prosecutor.

A day after Dallas police issued a warrant for her arrest, the Dallas County district attorney's office declined to prosecute a woman who was hospitalized after an assault in Deep Ellum last month.

The warrant accusing L'Daijohnique Lee of felony criminal mischief was recalled Wednesday, said Kim Leach, a spokeswoman for District Attorney John Creuzot. Lee, 24, was charged after police said she admitted she smashed the window of Austin Shuffield's pickup after the assault.

Shuffield, 30, was filmed punching Lee repeatedly after a parking dispute in the early morning hours of March 21. He faces four misdemeanor charges in the attack, and Dallas police referred a felony charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon to a Dallas County grand jury.

News that Dallas police had sought to arrest Lee on a felony charge was met with outrage and a protest by civil rights groups Wednesday at City Hall.

Dominique Alexander (center in white shirt) of Next Generation Action Network leads a protest with others in the hallway of Dallas City Hall in downtown Dallas on Wednesday, April 3, 2019 in Dallas. Alexander and others came to protest a day after a warrant was issued for L'Daijohnique Lee in regards to the Deep Ellum assault with Austin Shuffield. (Vernon Bryant / Staff Photographer)

Dominique Alexander speaks at Dallas City Hall the day after a warrant was issued for L'Daijohnique Lee in the Austin Shuffield/Deep Ellum assault case. @dallasnews pic.twitter.com/gUcDVKZgk3 — Vernon Bryant (@vernonbryant) April 3, 2019

Lee Merritt, Lee's attorney, said he was relieved to hear that the district attorney had declined to prosecute. But he was "ashamed of the Dallas Police Department," he said.

"The DA did what was right, what they were supposed to do in this situation," Merritt said. "But it's an embarrassment that these charges were brought forward."

The Dallas Police Department said in a written statement Wednesday that it is the district attorney's decision whether to prosecute any case sent to his office. The police department's role, it said, is to investigate any offense to determine whether there was a violation of the law.

"The decision to file charges against L'Daijohnique Lee was based on her admission, evidence at the scene and statements obtained from witnesses," police said Wednesday.

On Tuesday, police defended the decision to charge Lee.

WATCH: Chief Renee Hall says it wasn’t @DallasPD intent to blindside Dallas Co DA w/charge against #DeepEllum beating victim.



DA declined to prosecute. @wfaa pic.twitter.com/kQLQ2o93Hx — David Goins (@dgoins) April 3, 2019

Deputy Chief Thomas Castro said at a news conference that police must take everyone's rights and all circumstances into account when determining charges against a person.

"In this case, based on ... [Lee's] own admission," Castro said, "it was pretty clear that she committed that offense."

'We can, but should we?'

The warrant for Lee's arrest caught Creuzot by surprise, prompting a written statement from his office Tuesday.

"The district attorney had no prior knowledge that an arrest warrant was issued," the statement said. "When and if charges reach the district attorney's office, we will take appropriate action."

Dallas attorney Messina Madson, a former top prosecutor at the DA's office, said an informal conversation between law enforcement and prosecutors typically precedes an arrest warrant's being issued for someone who appears to be the victim of a crime.

"The one component that seems unusual is that Dallas police didn't seem to collaborate with the district attorney's office," Madson said. "They should have had a discussion before filing."

Madson said the district attorney's office is "well within its right to decline to prosecute."

She said it's common for police and prosecutors to face a decision whether to prosecute someone, especially in family violence cases. Madson said a choice must be made about who was the aggressor and whose actions were the most egregious.

The questions to ask, she said, are: "What is a just outcome?" and "We can, but should we?"

Madson is now a defense attorney, but she ran the district attorney's office while former DA Susan Hawk was away for health reasons before she resigned.

L'Daijohnique Lee before a news conference with her lawyer, civil rights attorney Lee Merritt, in Dallas on March 25, 2019. Lee was allegedly attacked by Austin Shuffield in Deep Ellum. (Daniel Carde / Staff Photographer)

Shuffield's side

Shuffield's attorney said the public hasn't heard the whole story about what happened and media coverage has been "one-sided."

But the attorney, JR Cook, declined to comment Wednesday about the details of the incident, which was captured on cellphone video. He did say the arrest warrant issued this week for the woman whom Shuffield is accused of assaulting proves there is more to what happened.

Cook said he would tell Shuffield's side in court.

"We're going to present our side quietly," Cook said, "the way it's supposed to be done."

Shuffield told an officer he acted in self-defense after Lee hit him, the affidavit states. He later lost his job bartending at High and Tight, a bar and barbershop not far from where the assault occurred.

On Wednesday, about two dozen protesters demonstrated at City Hall, calling for the charge to be dropped against Lee, who is black. Organizer Dominique Alexander compared the case to the Botham Jean shooting, in which a black man was killed by an off-duty white police officer in uniform, Alexander promised to keep making Dallas police "uncomfortable."

The group marched to chants of "no justice, no peace, no racist police" and "whose streets? Our streets!"

At one point, Alexander confronted Mike Mata, demanding that the president of the Dallas Police Association answer for the charge. Mata eventually walked away as Alexander kept shouting.

Austin Shuffield was first arrested March 21 (left) on the original misdemeanor charges. A week later, he was clean-shaven for his re-arrest on a weapons charge. (Dallas County Jail)

Shuffield's initial arrest on misdemeanor charges set off days of protest, and police then referred the felony assault charge to the grand jury. Police also added a misdemeanor charge of unlawfully carrying a weapon after video showed him holding a handgun during the fight. Police seized a knife and a .45-caliber Glock from his pickup, a gun that authorities say he was not licensed to carry.

Lee told investigators she was dropping off a friend at Deep Ellum Hostel when Shuffield asked her to move her car. He started recording her vehicle and license plates.

Lee then told him to get back and grabbed her phone to call police, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.

Austin Shuffield waited for a ride last Friday from the Dallas County Jail after he was released on bond. (Tom Fox / Staff Photographer)

A cellphone video of the confrontation shows that Lee hit Shuffield once after he slapped the phone from her hand and kicked it away from her.

Lee then threw a jump box, a device used to charge a car battery, through the back windshield of Shuffield's truck, according to the affidavit. That part of the confrontation wasn't caught on the video that went viral online.

Police said there was a delay in seeking the now-recalled arrest warrant for Lee because investigators waited to determine the extent of the damage to Shuffield's pickup. This week, he submitted an estimate just over $3,000, and detectives confirmed it Monday, police said.

Criminal mischief is often a misdemeanor, but when the damage total exceeds $2,500, it becomes a state jail felony.

Merritt, the woman's attorney, questioned the logic of the charge against his client while speaking to reporters Wednesday outside City Hall.

"It's not the role of the Dallas Police Department to come in and revictimize the victim; she has gone through enough," he said. "She continues to live in fear, as the person who violently assaulted her and pulled a gun on her is free."

Staff writer Sarah Sarder contributed to this report.