Teen jailed on charges he punched League City mayor Accounts differ on alleged attack on mayor

Teen jailed on charges he punched League City's leader

Denshay Benson, 17, is being held in lieu of bail totaling $10,000 on misdemeanor charges of assault with bodily injury and deadly conduct with a vehicle. Denshay Benson, 17, is being held in lieu of bail totaling $10,000 on misdemeanor charges of assault with bodily injury and deadly conduct with a vehicle. Photo: Handout Photo Photo: Handout Photo Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close Teen jailed on charges he punched League City mayor 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

A 17-year-old high school senior was in jail Thursday night accused of assaulting the mayor of League City after an argument over a roadway incident in Clear Lake Shores overheated. Police say he punched her as he tried to leave, but his girlfriend says the mayor instigated the incident and used a racial epithet while cursing him loudly. Denshay Benson, 17, is charged with endangering Toni Randall with his vehicle and later knocking her to the ground after she confronted him in a nearby parking lot. He was being held in lieu of bail totaling $10,000 on misdemeanor charges of assault with bodily injury and deadly conduct with a vehicle. Reached late Thursday night, Randall declined to say whether she made the alleged racial slurs. “I’m not going to comment, period,” Randall said, “other than I am the victim. I’m the one that was hit. That’s all there is to it. I was the one that was assaulted. I mean come on, this is way out there.” Clear Lake Shores Police Chief/City Administrator Paul Shelley said Randall, 46, was astride her trademark red motor scooter on FM 2094 about 2:30 p.m. Wednesday when a GMC Denali began tailgating in a 40-mph zone. “She was driving slow,” Shelley said of Randall. “He didn’t like it. My policeman tells me that he followed all the way from League City, a distance of 1½ or 2 miles.” As Randall approached the thoroughfare’s 400 block, her scooter was forced off the road, Shelley said. The SUV driver then passed her and pulled into the parking lot of a Discount Tire store. Recovering her composure, Randall followed the vehicle until it stopped and then approached its driver. As she walked back to her motorbike, Shelley said, Benson hit the mayor in the ribs with his fist, knocking her to the ground. Benson, a senior at Clear Creek High School, then fled the scene and hit a parked car while doing so, Shelley said. “He admitted to knocking her down,” he added. But Benson’s girlfriend, Meghan McIntyre, who was with him during the incident, offered a different version of events. She said Randall pulled in front of their vehicle and drove very slowly. When they began to pass her, Randall shouted and cursed at them and used an obscene hand gesture, said McIntyre, 18, also a Clear Creek senior. According to McIntyre: Randall then pulled in front of them again and slammed on her brakes. Benson went around her once more and pulled into the parking lot. Randall followed them and began to curse at them as she approached the vehicle. When Benson got out of the car, the mayor called him a common racial epithet. Both Benson and McIntyre are African-American. “She kept telling him, ‘Hit me, hit me. You think you’re cool with those little things in your hair,’ ” McIntyre said, referring to Benson’s dreadlocks. McIntyre said Benson tried to get back into his vehicle but that Randall tried to keep the door closed. As they argued, Benson slapped at a cup of iced tea in Randall’s hand to keep her away, at which point she poured it on him, McIntyre said. She said Benson pushed Randall in order to get back into the truck. “She started yelling, ‘Call the police! Call the police!’ ” McIntyre said. Another motorist pulled his car in front of Benson’s to keep him from leaving and struck the Denali, she added. McIntyre said she and Benson gave statements to police Wednesday night. She said she was shocked that he was arrested. She also said she was hurt by the mayor’s language. “I’d never seen that in person before,” McIntyre said. “I always see it in TV and movies, but when I see that (in person) it hurts. I just don’t know what to think.’’ Shelley said he had no proof Randall used racial slurs when confronting Benson. “That’s a ‘he said/she said’ deal there,” the chief said. Randall was examined at an area hospital but was not admitted. Each charge against Benson carries a maximum sentence of a year in jail and a $4,000 fine, Shelley said. He was to remain in the Kemah jail overnight and be transferred to the Galveston County jail today, he said. allan.turner@chron.com