A man was arrested Thursday in the assault of a 17-year-old girl with autism in a women’s restroom at a store last December, the White Settlement Police Department announced Friday.
White Settlement police responded to a medical emergency regarding a teen girl turning blue at Academy Sporting Goods located at 1701 South Cherry Lane on the evening of December 22, 2022.
According to the arrest warrant affidavit, the teen went into the restroom and found a man, who has been identified as Toby Keith Coan, in a stall before “everything just went black.” She mentioned to police that her throat was sore and she was not sure if Coan choked her or not.
She also told police she just remembers “fighting until she could not fight anymore” and blacking out. She also remembered a white pill, and that she was fighting the man because she did not want that in her mouth.
As she was trying to leave the stall, Coan grabbed her by the waist and “was trying to shove the pill in her mouth,” the affidavit says.
The teen said she was trying to get him off of her when she began fighting with him in the stall.
The teen’s mother, April Burns, also told police she saw another person in the same stall that her daughter was in when she went to check on her. Burns told police her daughter is highly functioning with autism.
After Burns banged on the door, a man opened the stall and ran out of the bathroom and Burns saw her daughter sitting on the toilet, leaned up against the wall, and beginning to turn blue in her face, according to the affidavit.
An officer found the girl unconscious with foam coming out of her mouth, the affidavit states.
She was not responsive, but had a pulse and was breathing, police said.
Coan was seen entering the store and asking an employee where the bathroom was in a surveillance video obtained by police. He was then seen in the video running out of the store just minutes after the teen entered the women’s restroom.
Coan told police that the teen confronted him after he entered the women’s restroom and realized he was inside the wrong one.
Coan claimed he was trying to explain his mistake to the 17-year-old but she started calling him a “pervert” and “pedophile” and threatened to call the cops.
He also claimed he tried to “go around her,” but the girl shoved him back and hit him.
In an interview with police, Coan said his mind “went black” and that the teen was “really aggressive.” He told police he does not remember putting his hands on the girl.
Coan told police that the teen was screaming while he was trying to explain to her that because of a concussion he had, he did not read the bathroom sign correctly.
He claims he blacked out after the girl was yelling at him, but remembers that she allegedly grabbed mail from inside his pocket.
Coan said they were wrestling for the envelope and he pushed her on her chest, just below her throat, to get her off.
After the teen let go, he ran out of the restroom, Coan claimed.
He was advised by police that he had gone into women’s restrooms multiple times, according to the affidavit, but Coan claimed the incident was the first time it happened.
After being confronted by police with footage of entering other women’s restrooms, he further claimed he didn’t remember doing so.
A warrant for Coan’s arrest was obtained Monday and he was transported to a jail on a charge of assault against a disabled individual.
“While the investigation took several months to determine what happened, this case demonstrates our resolve in seeking justice for the victim,” said Christopher Cook, White Settlement’s chief of police. The investigation took several months to process evidence, forensic testing, and working with the Tarrant County Alliance for Children, police said.
The Tarrant County Constable’s Office assisted in the arrest.