Suspects Sought After 70-Year-Old Beaten In Check-Out Aisle At Bronx Grocery Store
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A 70-year-old grandmother said she was beaten by a couple who accused her of cutting the line at the checkout counter of a grocery store in the Bronx.
Peggy Myers Canada, a recent widow, said she was attacked while shopping at the Key Food supermarket on Jerome Avenue on Sept. 28, the day after her 70th birthday, and the 9 month anniversary of her husband's death.
Canada said she was at the checkout counter when she realized she needed one more item -- ice cream.
"I saw that they had ice cream on sale and I said, 'I can't pass up that,'" she told CBS2.
She left the line and went to get it.
When she came back, she says the suspects, a young man and woman who were also on the line, accused her of cutting in front of them.
She said a heated argument ensued, with the male suspect yelling and cursing at her.
"He just went off," she said. "And he proceeded to start to verbally abuse me."
Making things worse, she says her grocery items and the suspect's grocery items became mixed together.
"I separated my items from his items and when I did this everything fell over. And he reached over and punched me in my eye," she said. "He balled up his fist and he hit me."
Canada says she fought back to protect herself, but then the woman punched her in the face as well, CBS2's Scott Rapoport reported.
"The clerk even said, 'You need to apologize to that old lady,'" Canada said.
Canada was not seriously hurt.
The suspects were caught fleeing the store, carrying grocery bags.
"They have no god-liness in them. And man's justice is nothing compared to God's justice. It's forever," Canada said.
Anyone with information in regards to this incident is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime stoppers website or by texting their tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577.