CHARLOTTE — Diquan Hunt was arrested following a random assault on a woman in the Dilworth neighborhood last Thursday.
The arrest comes after the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department discovered multiple videos on an Instagram page appearing to belong to Hunt that showed the assault and other women being chased.
The assault occurred at approximately 8:45 a.m. last Thursday on East Boulevard near Euclid Avenue.
A video posted to an Instagram page appearing to belong to Hunt shows a woman walking with a balloon in her hand before she is punched and falls to the sidewalk.
While police blurred her face in the footage, she appeared to have been knocked unconscious. Investigators said she suffered serious but non-life-threatening injuries.
Additional videos found on the social media page depicted the recent attack along with other incidents, including footage of women being chased.
In one video, a woman is shown running into the street on South Boulevard to hide behind a parked vehicle.
Hunt has a criminal history involving several assault charges over the past few years. In 2020, he was convicted of shooting into a building or a vehicle with a person inside.
His most recent arrest before this incident occurred in December, when police said he threatened a man with a knife on or near a Gold Line streetcar in uptown Charlotte. Court records indicate that Hunt had been previously banned from the Charlotte Area Transit System.
In September, Hunt was also accused of pepper-spraying a person on a bus. The nature of these unprovoked attacks by an individual with a history of public transit offenses has drawn comparisons to the murder of Iryna Zarutska in 2023.
That case resulted in the passage of Iryna’s Law, which eliminated cashless bail for violent crimes, established new mental health evaluation protocols and made it more difficult for defendants with significant criminal histories to be released on bail.
Rep. Tricia Cotham, who helped craft Iryna’s Law, is now reviewing the Dilworth incident to determine if further legislative action is necessary. Cotham confirmed she has viewed the video of the assault.
“I have already reached out to legislative attorneys to see what can be proposed to prevent this type of random crime,” Cotham said.
Hunt is currently at a medical facility receiving treatment, though Charlotte-Mecklenburg police did not disclose the reason for his hospitalization.
Officials stated he will be formally charged with assault with a deadly weapon upon his release from the facility.
This is a developing story. Check back with wsoctv.com and watch Eyewitness News for updates.