Cops: Fatal punch over pizza

Suspect Nathan Marshall admitted he hit veteran Marques Johnson, who fell down, Austin police say.

Austin police say in court documents that Nathan Marshall, 28, admitted fatally punching a San Antonio man on Sixth Street over a slice of pizza.

The assault around 2 a.m. Sunday in the 200 block of East Sixth Street, near the Driskill Hotel, resulted in the death of 33-yearold Air Force veteran Marques Johnson.

“Marshall stated that ( Johnson) smashed pizza out of a white male’s hands,” the detectives wrote in the affidavit supporting Marshall’s arrest warrant. “Marshall stated ( Johnson) came back and so he sucker punched ( Johnson) ... one time and ( Johnson) fell down.”

Marshall was in the Travis County Jail on Friday on charges of manslaughter and unrelated charge of assault on a public servant. He is being held on a combined $150,000 bail.

According the affidavit, Johnson and his wife had just left the Barcelona nightclub at 209 E. Sixth St., where they were celebrating a friend’s birthday. One witness told officers that Johnson “bumped into someone” and was then punched by a man she later identified as Marshall.

A second witness reported to detectives that an unidentified man threw “a piece of pizza” at Johnson, which prompted him to turn around and ask who threw the pizza. At that point, the witness told police, Johnson was punched and hit the ground. The second witness later identified Marshall as the attacker, the affidavit said.

Both witnesses told police Johnson was knocked unconscious by the one blow, according to court documents.

Medics quickly arrived at the scene and rushed him to Dell