Woman attacks another woman with shopping cart at Walmart
THE COLONY (CBSNewsTexas.com) - A North Texas woman is facing an assault charge after police say she rammed her shopping cart into another woman.
The incident happened Monday at the Walmart off Highway 121 in The Colony.
Officers arrested 68-year-old Francis Clark at the scene.
The woman she hit, Janice Lambert, believes she was targeted because of the color of her skin.
"It's been nice to live in this area, where people seem to want to care about each other, which made what happened yesterday so beyond hurtful," said Lambert.
Lambert and her husband of 49 years retired to Texas to live near their children and grandchildren.
She took two of her grandkids shopping Monday afternoon for groceries. Their summer activity for the day was going to be making sushi.
"We call it Nanny Camp," Lambert said. "We have fun, but we're going to learn something."
Lambert said she was grabbing some grapes when a woman assaulted her with a shopping cart.
"I'm totally shocked, and I turn around and look at this lady and said 'Lady, you just hit me with your cart,'" said Lambert. "She says, 'I know I did. You have no business here. You shouldn't be here. And your kids are hoarding the fruit.'"
Lambert said she tried to get her grandchildren away from the woman but she kept following them. She first reached out to Walmart security for help, then called The Colony Police Department.
The officers told her surveillance footage confirmed the suspect had targeted her, unprovoked. They arrested Clark at the store.
"I think she should understand there's consequences, and she should not be allowed to do this again," Lambert said.
She is waiting to get an MRI to assess the potential damage to her leg and hip from the cart. She is currently fighting multiple myeloma and says the blood cancer makes even small injuries worse.
"The biggest hurt is that my grands had to see that, and that we have to live in a world now that they've been exposed to hate and racism and cruelty," said Lambert.
Lambert said they'll probably be more cautious during future outings now, but she doesn't want her grandkids to be scarred by what happened.
Clark was charged with assault against an elderly or disabled person, which is a Class A misdemeanor.
