A Black South Carolina woman has filed a federal civil lawsuit against Circle K after a clerk in a Bowling Green, Ohio, store physically attacked her, allegedly causing her to miscarry.
Deria Francis, a 40-year-old minister, was eight weeks pregnant when she and her two children, 8 and 13, went into the Circle K store on May 23 to pay while her husband Dathan Stukes, a pastor, was outside fueling up their car, according to their personal injury lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Ohio on Dec. 8 and obtained by Atlanta Black Star.
The family was heading to Detroit for a church conference.
Francis paid for the gas but then realized she had forgotten to enter her Circle K customer rewards program number, and asked clerk Shannon Walsh to void the transaction so she could redo it and earn savings on the gas.
Walsh refused to honor her request, saying it might take a couple of days for the funds already paid to be returned to Francis’s bank account, the complaint says. Francis repeated her request, saying she didn’t care if it took a few days.
Store surveillance video of the incident provided by the plaintiffs’ attorney Charles Boyk cuts in as the situation becomes more tense.
“You’re being nasty,” Francis can be heard telling Walsh. “Stop being nasty.”
Walsh threatens to call the police, then tells Francis, “Get the f-ck out!”
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Francis replies, “Ok, Karen,” as Walsh begins throwing items at her from behind the store counter, including a jar full of change that her attorney says hit Francis in the stomach.
Then Walsh quickly moves from behind the counter and accosts Francis. The lawsuit says the clerk grabbed the pregnant woman by the hair, then slammed her into a drink container before repeatedly striking her with a closed fist.
In the video, Francis fights back and tells her oldest child to get their father.
During the altercation, Walsh called Francis racist insults, including “an animal” and “ghetto,” the complaint contends.
Bowling Green Police and EMS responded to the scene. Walsh was later charged with assault in Bowling Green Municipal court, subsequently pled no contest to negligent assault and was found guilty in October, 13ABC in Toledo reported. She was sentenced by the court to complete anger management training, the lawsuit says.
Francis sustained extensive bruising and suffered a miscarriage later that week, which the lawsuit claims was directly caused by Walsh’s violent assault. The incident has taken a severe psychological toll on Francis and her husband, as well as her children, who witnessed the attack.
“Losing a child, whether it was a full-blown baby or just a small fetus, you still lost a child, and the way it happened was really, really traumatizing,” Stukes told 13ABC.
The complaint accuses Walsh of assault, battery and negligence, and accuses Mac Convenience Stores, LLC (the store franchisee) and Arizona-based Circle K Stores, Inc. of negligent hiring, training and supervision and finds them vicariously liable, as they should have known that Walsh “had violent tendencies that made her unsuitable for a position that involves interaction with the business’s patrons.”
“Circle K never should have hired this person. … Her actions were both racist and criminal and the only way of big corporations are going to do anything about this is if there are consequences,” Boyk told the Toledo news outlet. “And we definitely plan on giving them some consequences.”
The plaintiffs, Francis and Stukes, seek a jury trial to determine compensatory damages of at least $75,000 and legal costs. Circle K corporate representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Atlanta Black Star.
All of the defendants have 28 days after being served to file a response to the complaint.
Great Job Jill Jordan Sieder & the Team @ Atlanta Black Star Source link for sharing this story.
