Crenshaw Mayor Oscar Barlow is back at work following an attack by an unknown assailant Friday night.

According to Barlow, who was scheduled to work that evening at an IWF wrestling show in Crenshaw, he had gone home to change for the event when the attack took place.

"The promoter has this thing about the ring announcer being dressed up, so I went home to put on a suit," he said Monday. "I had tossed a shirt in the dryer when I heard a knock at the door."

Barlow said he opened his wooden door and the attacker charged through and starting hitting him.

"I heard the knock on the door, and I didn’t think anything of it," he said. "That happens at all hours of the night.

"But when he came at me through the door, he started hitting me in the head with a big roll of gray tape," he said.

Barlow said he slipped because of his shoes and ended up on the floor where the attacker continued the assault.

"When he got me down, he just kept yelling, ‘This is what your boys did six years ago and now you’re getting yours,’ " he said.

He believes the man may have been making reference to city police officers but isn’t sure.

The voice making that statement was familiar to Barlow as he had received threatening phone calls from the unidentified man for more than two months.

"He was always calling me threatening that he was going to get to me or my wife," Barlow said. "But I never expected him to be bold enough to attack me in my own home."

Barlow said attempts to trace the phone calls had been unsuccessful because they were coming from a cell phone.

Barlow said the assailant was a stocky black male who spoke with what he called a "northern accent" and was wearing a tan jacket, wide dark glasses and had a goatee.

"I don’t really know what happened, but I must have blacked out for a minute," he said. "Because when I came to, he had my hands taped up so tight they were turning black.

"He had my feet taped together too and he ripped my pants off me," he said.
Barlow said even as he was restrained, the assailant continued kicking at him.

"When he hit me the last time, he told me we were even and walked out," he said. "I can barely remember him leaving."

Barlow said he was found by James Crump, an officer of the Crenshaw Police Department, at approximately 8 p.m. and taken to the Emergency Room in Senatobia where he was treated for contusions.

"It was embarrassing for me to have one of my officers to find me like that," he said.

"I am planning to get with Crump when he comes to work this afternoon and swear out an affidavit against John Doe," he said.

Barlow said the statement about him ‘getting his’ leads him to wonder if there was use of excessive force by a member or former member of the Police Department six years ago.

"We are in the process of going through the files and arrest cards of everyone that was charged with resisting arrest," he said. "We plan to question some of the former officers about those charges to see if we can get the name of a possible suspect."