On February 12, 1946, hours after being honorably discharged from the United States Army, Isaac Woodard was attacked while still in uniform by South Carolina police as he was taking a bus home.

 It’s truly horrible to see something like this, a man who served his country honorably beaten and blinded. It’s sickening. While riding the bus from Georgia to North Carolina on February 12, 1946, Sgt. Woodard was beaten so badly by the South Carolina police that he was permanently blinded.

Woodard’s assault occurred after he asked his bus driver if he could use the restroom at a scheduled stop. The driver cursed at him and kicked him off the bus at the next stop. There, the Batesburg, South Carolina chief of police was waiting to carry out a beating.

After he was beaten, Woodard was arrested for drunken and disorderly conduct, fined $50, and he was refused medical treatment. Woodard took the local chief of police, Lynwood Shull, to trial, but Shull was cleared of any wrongdoing. In response Woodard said:

The Right One hasn’t tried him yet... I’m not mad at anybody... I just feel bad. That’s all. I just feel bad.