A University student who was arrested and charged with felony shoplifting Monday told The Red & Black he was assaulted by a store worker.

Nathan Thomas Ray, 26, said he expects the charges to be reduced or dropped entirely, and is in contact with attorneys.

Ray was arrested at the Macy’s in Georgia Square Mall after Stephen Dorsey, a Macy’s employee, told police Ray stole a bag of clothes from the store – according to the Athens-Clarke County Police report.

Dorsey said he saw Ray carry a stack of clothes to an unmanned register where he picked up a plastic bag. Ray then entered a fitting room and when he left he was carrying only the bag, Dorsey told police.

When the clothes – four shirts and five sweaters valued at $389.98 – couldn’t be found in the fitting room, Dorsey stopped Ray as he exited Macy’s and detained him until police arrived.

Ray told The Red & Black that’s not how it happened.

“I had a bag of clothes. It was a bag I had carried in,” he said. “I went out with that bag and nobody stopped me, nobody said, ‘Hey! Stop!’ or anything like that.”

As he walked toward his car in the parking lot, Ray said he heard a man yelling at him from behind. As he turned around, he was tackled, he said.

“He was choking me and throwing my head down on the concrete and handcuffed me,” he said. “My foot looks like it might be broken. I got pretty scraped up.”

Ray said he is considering pressing charges against the Macy’s employee, even though he expects the charges to be dropped.

“I’m going to speak to the Macy’s guys about it, see what they have on me, see what’s going on and I’m pretty sure this whole thing’s going to go away,” he said.

Dorsey declined to comment when contacted by The Red & Black.University student and staff vehicles stolen during the weekend

Three motorcycles and a scooter belonging to University students and staff were stolen Saturday night and early Sunday morning, according to Athens-Clarke County Police reports.

According to the reports:

Two motorcycles – a black 2010 Kawasaki Ninja valued at $6,000 and an orange and black 2010 Honda CBR600 valued at $9,400 – were stolen from Chateau Club and Red Oak Village, respectively. The apartment complexes are within a mile of one another.

The scooter, a red Baja SC50, was stolen from First Street. The victim said neither he nor his roommate heard anything suspicious the night of the theft. The third motorcycle, a black and red Honda CBR600, was stolen within one mile of the scooter victim’s house. The victim reported hearing no suspicious noises the night of the theft.