The pair found a group of five of the same boys — Woythaler said she identified them by their shirts and the beer — walking west on Roxen Road. She pulled over, and John left the car to confront the boys, asking them who had insulted his wife, and insisting that they owed her an apology. According to Woythaler, one of the teens “got right in his face,” asking, “What are you talking about?” After John asked the question a second time, she said, they began to attack him. Woythaler made no mention of whether or not her husband made any physical contact with the boys prior to their alleged attack.

“I saw them surround him and bring him down to the ground,” Woythaler recounted through tears. “I saw beer cans flying through the air. I saw people punching and kicking my husband to the ground.”

Woythaler said she then ran from the car toward the group, screaming and begging them to stop, and when she tried to pull one of the attackers from her husband, he threw her to the ground. Dazed, she continued to cry for help, but said she did not use her phone to contact authorities.

“I know it sounds silly, but I couldn’t figure out how to use my phone,” she said. “I couldn’t take my eyes off of my husband, and I couldn’t figure out how to use it.”

Eventually, she said, her husband was able to crawl to a neighboring lawn, where one of the boys allegedly began kicking him in the head. A neighbor then ran out and pulled the attacker off of John, at which point he and the neighbor began to scuffle. In a few minutes, the situation calmed down, with John getting to his feet, disoriented. “He just kept saying, ‘You still owe her an apology,’” Woythaler said.

Shortly thereafter, according to Woythaler, one of the boys rushed at her husband unprovoked, and punched him in the face while John’s hands were lowered. He fell over a planter and hit his head on the ground, and his lip split and sprayed blood.