Employees Continue to Suffer Attacks from Customers in Separate Incidents

Sandusky, OH (WorkersCompensation.com) – Customers continued to take their aggressions out on employees this past week in separate incidents across the country.   

In Sandusky, Ohio, an amusement park employee was allegedly attacked by a park visitor.   

Police officials said a Michigan man was arrested and charged with assaulting a Cedar Point workers on Sunday, July 25. Officers arrived at the park around 9:30 p.m. on the platform of Steel Vengeance.   

According to police reports, the employee told the police he was checking the passengers’ seat belts when 18-year-old Dean Graff of Michigan, accused the employee of inappropriately touching. When the ride returned to the platform, witnesses said Graff hit the employee several times on the head, stopping only after someone intervened.   

Officers said they would review security footage of the account, noting cuts and swelling on the head of the victim, and scratches and blood on Graff’s hands.   

On Saturday, a woman was accused of slashing the face of a Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation.   

Massachusetts State Police said the employee, a 63-year-old man, told the woman she could not go into a non-accessible area of the Myles Standish Forest. When he denied her access, she attacked him, slashing him across the face.  

Police said the victim declined transportation to a hospital, and was treated at the scene by Carver EMS for a superficial injury.   

The attacker left the scene with a man, heading toward the Plymouth entrance to the state forest.   

On Monday, police in Gallatin, Tenn. Arrested a 22-year-old man for throwing a cup of liquid into the face of a fast food worker.   

Police said Davion Holt, 22, was arrested after surveillance video showed a 24-year-old drive-thru employee reacting to having something thrown in her face. On the video, you can see something coming through the window and hitting the employee in the face. The employee stopped momentarily, stunned, before bending over and wiping her face.   

When police arrived, the employee was able to identify the suspect out of a photo line-up. Police said he paid for his $2.83 meal using his own credit card.   

According to police reports, once Holt got his meal, he reportedly yelled “You a rude a** b****,” then threw the liquid at her and drove off. Police said the liquid smelled like bleach and that they would be testing the liquid left in the cup.   

“It’s a very aggressive assault. These people are working, trying to make a living. The general public pulls up and throws some type of liquid into their face. It’s very insulting. It is a very aggressive assault,” Lt. Lamar Ballard with the Gallatin Police said.  

Police charged the 22-year-old with aggravated assault. According to reports, Holt confessed that he threw water at the employee, but not bleach.    

“I mean this was a violent attack, that is why it lead to an aggravated assault. This was very aggressive; you can see in the video,” Ballard said. “The liquid is thrown, it goes into the restaurant and almost strikes other employees behind the employee struck. It did smell like bleach and of course we do have the cup to test the contents of what the liquid was.”  

Also on Monday, police it Pittsburg, Calif. arrested a man for attacking employees of the Filipino bakery, Starbread.   

Police said the man attacked eight employees in a fit of rage when he was asked to leave the store. The man, Lolani Finau, had previously been asked by employees not to return to the store when he violated COVID-19 protocols over the holidays. The employees allowed him to purchase bread on Monday, but again asked him not to return. When they did, he said they had the wrong person, and that he was actually the original offenders twin brother.   

From there, surveillance video shows the man throwing a credit card machine and a doughnut display across the room, knocking over the plexiglass at a register and punching an employee.  

One employee allegedly suffered scrapes from their confrontation with the man, while the owner suffered a fractured hand and a broken finger.  

"I was shocked," manager Jesse Sanchez said. "Something like this doesn’t normally happen, in our store especially."  

Police were still searching for Finau as of Thursday afternoon.