Employees Suffer Violent Attacks in Incidents from Indiana to New York

Elkhart, IN (WorkersCompensation.com) – Employees suffered a number of violent attacks at work in August, as the trend of lashing out at workers continues.   

In Elkhart, Ind., police said they were investigating a machete attack on a Walmart employee.   

On the morning of August 2, police responded to the Walmart in Elkhart after they received reports of a knife attack. According to reports, police found a 30-year-employee suffering from non-threatening injuries.   

According to the police, the suspect in the attack had previously gone into the store and taken a machete, hiding it in his backpack as he left. Once he left the store, he walked into the store’s parking lot and called an employee over to him. As the employee approached the suspect, the man pulled the machete out of the backpack and attacked the employee.   

After the attack, the suspect fled the scene on a bicycle. Police located the suspect by 9:30 and took him into custody. Police said they also recovered the machete from underneath a car in the parking lot of Walmart.  

Police said the incident was still under investigation.   

Earlier in the week, in Brooklyn, an attacker stabbed a grocery store worker with a knife in what police termed an unprovoked attack.   

The New York Police Department reported that a worker was arranging fruits and vegetables at Mr. Mango on July 28, when an attacker up behind the worker and stabbed him with a screwdriver.   

Video surveillance showed the attacker sneak up behind the workers and swing a screwdriver, stabbing him in the right arm. According to police, the victim testified he had never seen the attacker before, and that the suspect said nothing before, during or after the incident.   

"I don't know why. I don't know who this guy is. I never see (him in) this area, never," the worker told NBC New York. He told police he has no idea why he was targeted.   

Police said assaults in the store’s area are up 15 percent from 2021, and that robberies are up 14 percent.   

The store’s manager said the store was robbed in July, as well. In that instance, he said, while the suspects had a knife and a gun, no employees were hurt.   

The worker returned to work the next day, a white bandage on his arm. He told the NBC New York that he was nervous to come back, but needed the money.  

"I'm not too OK, but I have to work, you know. Rent is coming and this is why I have to work," he said.  

And on July 23, two teens attacked two transit police officers who were trying to stop them for fare evasion.   

Cell phone video showed the fight between the two officers and two 16-year-olds. One of the teenagers punches an officer, at one point, before wrestling him to the ground and putting him in a chokehold.   

The fight started when the two boys jumped the turnstile. Officers with the NYPD working the transit station stopped the two boys and told them to leave the station. But when they approached the boys, one of the boys began arguing with them. The officers attempted to take them into custody, and the boys started to fight back.  

"I was outraged," Metropolitan Transit Authority CEO Janno Lieber told NBC New York. "Here's a cop who's doing what we asked of the NYPD, which is to try to deter and cut down on fare evasion."  

The fight was broken up when a transit worker, who didn’t want to be identified,  intervened.  

"A perpetrator had a police officer in a bad situation in a chokehold on the floor, so I knew I had to intervene to stop it ... I helped pull the perp off him and tried to get him over to the side so he could get control of him," the transit worker said. "I was concerned about the safety of the officer and for the public if he grabbed his weapon from him."  

According to the NYPD, attacks on MTA employees and police working in transit stations are on the rise. NYPD Chief of Transit Jason Wilcox said the department has seen a 55 percent increase in assaults on police officers. Most of those attacks, he said, started when officers had engaged with those who had committed fare evasion or other quality of life violations.    

The teens in the video were arrested for assaulting an officer. They were arraigned in family court and released without bail until their next court date.