Man surrenders following deadly Dallas fight

DALLAS - A 42-year-old Dallas man who allegedly killed someone during a fight turned himself in to police Wednesday morning.

A relative called FOX 4’s Shaun Rabb after seeing Lonnie Brown's picture on the Dallas Police Department's crime blog. Brown agreed to meet Shaun outside the police station to surrender and face an aggravated assault charge.

Police said Brown hit Joe Willis Simpson in the head multiple times on Aug. 20 while fighting in the 800 block of Saner Avenue. Simpson later died at the hospital.

He explained the fight happened just after he was getting off work. He was asking friends for a ride home and walked by Simpson, who he was acquainted with.

He said Simpson lunged at him with a metal object, but he doesn’t know why. The two struggled and he claims he hit the man with a tree branch in self-defense.

A witness at the scene told Shaun he saw the whole thing. He claims Simpson was walking around threatening people with a piece of metal rebar and accusing them of taking his tools.

After the short interview, Shaun led Brown into the police station. Detectives questioned him for about three hours and then he was released without being booked into jail.

A grand jury will decide if it was self defense or something else.

FOX 4 tried to contact Simpson's family, but did not get a response.