It happened in Pittsburgh...
Protest forms at North Side gas station after police charge workers with assaulting customers
Rich Cholodofsky And Nicole C. Brambila | Saturday, September 21, 2019 10:32 a.m.
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Pittsburgh police said Saturday criminal charges have been against a gas station owner and an employee involved in an alleged assault Friday night on Pittsburgh’s North Side that was depicted in a video posted to social media.
The
video described as “disturbing,” showed multiple men as they held down several women and punched them repeatedly during a melee on the 2500 block of Brighton Road around 6:45 p.m.
“The video showing the assault on these women is particularly disturbing as multiple men held down the women while punching them repeatedly,” officials said in a release Saturday morning.
Protesters gathered Saturday morning at the gas station and vowed to stay all day in an effort to discourage motorists from buying gas or anything else at the store.
Police said on the previous night a verbal confrontation started over spilled gas and customers said a pump malfunctioned and demanded a refund. The store owners denied the refund and the verbal confrontation quickly became violent on the part of the workers, according to police.
As part of the investigation, officers reviewed multiple videos.
One video taken by a bystander and showed a lengthy physical confrontation in which the male store owners struck one of the women in the back of the head multiple times, and an employee grabbed one of the women by her hair and dragged her across pavement, police said.
Investigators reviewed the gas station’s security camera that showed a customer initiating the confrontation inside the store before it moved outside, according to police.
As a result of the investigation, police determined that assault charges should be filed against the gas station owner and an employee, who authorities did not immediately name in a statement.
Police submitted the paperwork to the Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office on Friday night. If the district attorney determines that charges should rise above simple assault to the level of aggravated assault, the paperwork will be amended, police said.
Police said it will continue to investigate the incident, including a review of any dashcam video and bodycam video. Additional charges could follow. Anyone who may have witnessed the incident is asked to call Zone 1 detectives at (412) 323-7201.