Ky. Man attacks Papa John’s Employee with Hammer

Safety at Work

Glasgow, KY (WorkersCompensation.com) – A Kentucky man is under arrest after police said he assaulted employees of a Barren County, Ky., business with a hammer.

The assault was one of several involving employees this past week.

According to the Glasgow Police Department, 24-year-old Aaron Kelly, of Russell Springs, allegedly assaulted a Papa John’s employee on March 21. Police said they were called to the store on Happy Valley Road for an assault. When they arrived, they were told employees had been attacked with a hammer and that Kelly was the suspect.

Police said Kelly entered the business from the back door and began assaulting the employees. They then began to defend themselves against the assault. One employee struck Kelly and subdued him, according to police reports.

Several of the employees were injured during the attack, police said. Officers said the hammer used was in Kelly’s possession when he was arrested. A woman later told police that Kelly had approached her vehicle before the assault, and asked for cigarettes and a gun. When she refused, he took at the hammer from her vehicle. Officers said Kelly may have been under the influence of some substance.

Kelly was arrested and taken to the Barren County Detention Center, and was charged with public intoxication-controlled substances (excluding alcohol), theft by unlawful taking or disposition of contents from a vehicle and first-degree assault.

In Southaven, Miss., a man was arrested for attacking a vape shop employee. Police said the man entered the VaporSmart around 11 a.m. on Sunday. Once on the inside, he assaulted the employee with a screwdriver and tried to get to the register. Police said he was not able to take anything. He chased the employee and pushed her down, causing her to suffer minor injuries.

The suspect, Larry Maher, 54, escaped on foot, police said. He was apprehended later that night during a traffic stop, the Southaven Police Department said.

In Portland, Ore., a man was arrested after he allegedly attacked several customers and employees at a McDonalds.

Court documents indicate police responded on March 18 to the McDonald’s at Northeast 80th Avenue and Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard. Police said a Hispanic man told police a man approached him outside the restaurant and asked him to do 100 burpees. The witness said the man then began screaming at him, calling him a “rapist” and accusing him of “taking jobs.”

Another witness showed police a video of the man yelling racial slurs and pushing people into the restaurant. The man was later identified as Ethan Russell Leers, 35.

One of the McDonald's employees said Leers smacked an Asian customer in the back of the head and shoved a Hispanic man into a wall. At that point, employees intervened. The employee said Leers repeatedly screamed racial slurs.

When police arrested Leers, he was reportedly continuing to yell racial slurs. Police later said Leers told officers he “better have guns at home” because he was going to find him and fight him. Leers also told the officer he wasn’t doing anything and that the officer should understand because he is “white-white.”

Leers was charged with four counts each of bias crime and harassment, and one count of disorderly conduct. Court records also showed that Leers had another charge of bias crime against him reinstated after it was dismissed earlier this year.

In that case, Gresham police arrested Leers after a homeowner there told police Leers was yelling racial slurs at her neighbor and pounding on the front door, as well as throwing rocks at the home and breaking windows. Leers later ran inside the house and stole a purse and a mop.

Leers was arraigned on charges of bias crime, criminal mischief, theft and unlawful entry into a motor vehicle.

In Reading, Penn., a Dollar Tree employee was stabbed by a customer.

Police responded to the store and found the employee suffering injuries to the back of her neck and her back. The suspect fled the scene prior to officers arriving. The victim was later transported to a local hospital with serious injuries.

The suspect, Jose Dejesus, 57, was arrested Sunday without incident, and was charged with attempted homicide, aggravated assault, reckless endangerment and offenses.

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