By JOSH AULT
6 News Reporter
KNOXVILLE (WATE) - A Knoxville family is speaking out after they say they were brutally assaulted at Graceland.
The alleged assault happened Saturday afternoon in Memphis.
Richard Olinger, his wife, and 10-year-old son who is disabled, say they are lucky to be alive after what happened to them Saturday at Graceland.
It all started when they arrived and were preparing to put their son into one of the attraction's shuttle buses.
Olinger says the driver, Heddy Ross, did not know how to put their son, who is in a wheelchair, inside the bus.
"She turned loose of him, let his stroller, it hit the back wall," explained Olinger. "(It) rolled the wheel onto one of the floor locks. It tipped his stroller up in the air about causing it to turn over."
Olinger says after that happened he told Ross not to touch his son, and to get a supervisor.
Ross told News 5 in Memphis a different story.
"He walked up to me and pushed me in my chest," said Ross. "I said sir don't put your hands back on me again."
"I placed my hand on her shoulder and said, 'Ma'am, just go get your supervisor,'" said Olinger. "We are not going to ride with you."
Olinger says they got a new bus driver and proceeded inside Graceland.
He had planned to file a complaint when he got out, but that changed when three men approached him outside the gift shop.
"I got one guy standing on the right side and her husband standing up in front of me," said Olinger. "I'm being told I'm going to apologize to the mom."
Olinger says his father and brother, who were on the trip with them, saw what was happening and approached. That is when Olinger says two of the men who approached him started to get physical.
"They turned an punched one of my brothers," said Olinger. "They punched my father. It escalated into a brawl."
Ross says she does not know who the men were.
"I don't know who it was because I was with security and my husband was over there conversating with the family and I was speaking with security," said Ross.
Olinger says he is just grateful his son was not hurt in the altercation and hopes something like this will not happen again.
"I just want our family to be at peace, put the situation behind us and be able to move on from here," said Olinger.
The Olingers say they do not plan to visit Graceland again.
They have hired Knoxville attorney Greg Issacs to represent them. They have not filed a lawsuit yet, but are planning to send a form request to Graceland officials to resolve the situation very soon.
No arrests have been made in this case.
Richard Olinger, his wife, and 10-year-old son who is disabled, say they are lucky to be alive.
