Customer punches Dollar General employee
FOX 13’s Ariel Plasencia reports on a Dollar General clerk suffering from almost $15,000 in dental damages after getting punched by a customer whose transaction was declined.
TEMPLE TERRACE, Fla. – The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office is investigating after a Dollar General clerk said a customer punched her in the mouth.
Last Thursday afternoon, on Feb. 6, Amber Heflin was working at the Dollar General on 56th St. in Temple Terrace when a familiar face walked in.
Surveillance footage of the man punching the Dollar General clerk.
“This guy is in my store two, three times a day. He wears the same clothes,” Heflin told FOX 13. “I’ve been (working) there since November. He’s in every single day. And nobody’s been able to find this dude.”
The backstory:
That particular day, the man tried buying stuff with a food stamp card that got declined, Heflin said.
Surveillance footage of the man who punched the Dollar General clerk.
So, her general manager asked him to leave. He got upset and started making threats, which, unfortunately, had happened before, according to Heflin.
“It just wouldn’t stop. So I had to tell him, I’m like, look, there’s no money on your card. There’s been no transaction. There’s no receipt because that’s what he kept yelling for. He wanted a receipt,” Heflin said.
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Again, they asked him to leave, Heflin said. And she thought he was going to until he started walking past the register.
“And I mean, he just leaned in and punched me,” Heflin said. “Like I didn’t even have a second to even think about the situation.”
Dig deeper:
The blow – which was recorded on the store’s surveillance video – knocked out three of Heflin’s teeth and severely damaged a fourth. She said a dentist told her it was going to cost around $15,000 to get everything fixed.
The damage to Heflin’s teeth, which a dentist told her would cost around $15,000 to repair.
“Like I’m terrified to go back to work at this point. Like I need to go back to work,” Heflin said. “But until the dude’s caught, I’m not comfortable being in there.”
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That’s why she posted the surveillance video on the Nextdoor app, hoping someone would recognize him.
Heflin’s post on the Nextdoor app, asking the public to help identify him.
“I just wish somebody would call and say they know the guy or where he’s at,” Heflin said. “I need to get back to work.”
What’s next:
FOX 13 reached out to Dollar General, who referred us to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office.
HCSO told FOX 13 that this is an active investigation.
The Source: FOX 13’s Ariel Plasencia collected the information in this story.
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