A violent incident occurred inside a Circle K store in Ohio, where a cashier reportedly attacked a pregnant Black woman brutally, leading her to miscarry her unborn child. It all happened when eight weeks pregnant Deria Francis, accompanied by her two other children aged 8 and 13, visited the store on May 23.
They were there to pay while her husband, Dathan Stukes, was refueling their car outside. As per the personal injury lawsuit filed under the U.S. District Court in Ohio, the family of four was heading to attend a church conference in Detroit.
Francis made the payment for the gas like she usually did, but happened to realize that she had forgotten to enter her Circle K customer rewards program number. So she asked the attending cashier, Shannon Walsh, to void the transaction so that she could redo it with the loyalty number and earn her savings on the gas. Reportedly, the cashier refused to honor the request, citing that the payments, once made, may take time to be refunded. But Francis continued to plead with her request, even suggesting that it did not matter how many days it would take for the money to be returned to her account.
It was at this moment that the situation inside the store began to get tense. As Francis refused to back down on her request, she further called out Walsh to stop being nasty over a minuscule matter. From the video footage included in the lawsuit, Francis had said, “You’re being nasty. Stop being nasty” before threatening to call the police if Shannon would not comply with her request.
At this point, Shannon Walsh told Francis, “Get the f— out!”, to which the latter responded, “Ok Karen”. It was exactly then that the cashier lost her cool and started throwing random items from behind the counter towards the pregnant 40-year-old. As per Francis’ attorneys, one of these items included a heavy jar full of change, which Shannon threw and hit Francis’ stomach.
The situation rapidly escalated when Shannon exited her place behind the counter and attacked Francis physically. The two got into a heated fight when the cashier grabbed the Black woman by her hair and then slammed her against a container of drinks. She repeatedly punched Francis with her closed fists all this time. Meanwhile, Francis fought back and alerted the eldest of her children to inform their father of what was happening inside.
Watch the video here!
The complaint filed reveals that Shannon Walsh repeatedly used racial slurs towards Deria Francis, including words like ‘an animal’ and ‘ghetto’. Bowling Green Police and EMS authorities reached the scene soon after, and Walsh was charged with assault immediately. Later, at the Bowling Green Municipal Court, the cashier pleaded no contest to negligent assault but was found guilty. Shannon was finally sentenced by the court to undergo complete anger management training.
Unfortunately, the extensive bruising that Deria Francis suffered during the altercation caused her to miscarry her unborn child at just 8 weeks. Their lawsuit alleges that this happened directly because of the violent nature of the attack Walsh rained down upon Francis when she was pregnant. Both Francis and her husband Dathan are going through an emotional toll following the incident. Even their minor children were witnesses to the catastrophic incident that unfolded inside the Circle K store.
Dathan later talked about the unexpected outcome in a statement to 13ABC. In his words, “Losing a child, whether it was a full-blown baby or just a small fetus, you still lost a child, and the way it happened, it was really, really traumatizing.”
The lawsuit filed by Francis and Dathan accuses cashier Shannon Walsh of battery, assault, and negligence. Besides her, the complaint also extends toward the store franchisee, Mac Convenience Stores LLC and Circle K Stores from Arizona. Both companies are accused of negligent hiring, training, and supervision. They are held equally liable for the incident, since the cashier reportedly demonstrated violent and racially charged behavior, making for an unsuitable candidate to handle a position like this.
Attorney Charles Boyk underlined the lapse of corporate responsibility and added, “Circle K never should have hired this person. … Her actions were both racist and criminal, and the only way big corporations are going to do anything about this is if there are consequences. And we definitely plan on giving them some consequences.”
