Customers Appalled By Video Of Violent Attack On Hempstead Gas Station Clerk
HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- Hempstead residents are shocked by a newly -released video showing a brutal attack on a gas station clerk that occurred months ago.
As CBS2's Steve Langford reported, Nassau County police released the video of the incident Thursday. It happened at the Apple Green Gas station at 797 Peninsula Blvd. in Hempstead, around 6:20 p.m. Friday, Jan. 8.
The gas station clerk was facing an irate customer, when the confrontation suddenly exploded in violence. The customer body-slammed the clerk twice, and then punched and slapped the victim.
The surveillance video left longtime customers at the service station visibly shaken.
"It sickens me – it really does," one woman said.
It all began police said when the clerk looked at the credit card and said he'd like to see some ID. The suspect refused and got violent.
"He swiped the card, and he realized that after the receipt came out, the number on the face of the card and the number on the receipt were two different numbers. Therefore, the magnetic strip was tampered with," said Nassau County police Chief of Detectives Kevin Smith.
Nassau County police released the video five months after the vicious attack to focus attention, with the assailant still at large.
"You can't tell me that someone doesn't know who these people are," Smith said.
The suspect was seen with a woman who watched the beating go down, before the pair fled in what police say is a dark blue Nissan xTerra.
"It leaves me speechless – let's just put it that way," a man said.
The victim suffered a fractured skull and injuries to his knee, ankle, arms and ribs.
The clerk no longer works at the gas station and the suspects are still on the loose.
"He certainly didn't deserve that," a man said. "No one deserves that."
The attacked was last seen wearing a red winter hat, black jacket and tan pants.
The woman who was with him had long curly hair and was wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt and beige pants, police said.
Because the credit card the attacker used was a prepaid card that had been tampered with, police were not able to trace it back to the suspect.
Anyone with information regarding the incident to was asked to call Nassau County Crime Stoppers at 1-800-244-TIPS. All callers will remain anonymous.