Victim in Palestine Walmart Attack Speaks Out
Suspect Arrested on Multiple Charges
By Will Johnson
Messenger Reporter
PALESTINE – The first day of August turned into an ordinary Saturday evening as a 49-year-old Palestine woman took her two grandchildren shopping for school supplies.
Wandering the aisles of the Palestine Walmart, she stopped to check her phone to see if she needed anything further. What happened next was almost like a passage from a James Patterson novel, except it wasn’t.
A man approached the woman with what she thought was a spray bottle and then dumped the contents of said bottle over the top of her head. At first, she thought it might be a practical joke of some kind but when the liquid began to burn her skin and ran into her eyes, she knew this was no prank.
The Palestine Police Department was immediately notified and after the victim was provided first-aid by Walmart employees, the female victim was transported to the Palestine Regional ER by ambulance for medical treatment.
On Monday, Aug. 3, information provided by the Palestine Police indicated, “The victim did not know the suspect, who fled the scene following the assault. While the Officers were investigating the incident, the suspect, later identified as Willie James Lewis, 37 of Oakwood, returned to the scene. Lewis then followed an officer to the front of the store and attacked the officer from behind using a shopping cart. Officers were able to take Lewis into custody following a struggle. The officer was treated and released at the scene. Prior to assaulting the Officer, Lewis had also damaged a patrol vehicle that was parked outside of the store.
Earlier this week, the female victim of the crime spoke with The Messenger and recounted the terrifying incident in further detail. The victim requested anonymity and for the purposes of this interview, she has been given the pseudonym of Joanna.
“I was shopping for school supplies with my 10-year-old granddaughter and my two-year-old granddaughter. The two-year-old was in the basket and the 10-year-old was walking around beside me, helping to get the school supplies,” Joanna said.
“From the corner of my eye, I saw a guy approaching me. It looked like he was about to squirt me with water or some other type of liquid. I couldn’t really tell what it was. As he got closer to me, it appeared like he had a dish soap container with a squirt top. He started squirting a cloudy, white substance on top of my head,” she said.
Joanna explained while this was happening, she turned fully around and questioned, “What are you doing?” and “What is that?”
“He had a look of hatred for me on his face,” she continued, “especially as he continued to empty the bottle on my head. He stood in front of me and opened up his shirt to reveal another shirt with the Rebel flag on it. He just had a look of hate in his eyes and then – he just walked away.”
As Lewis walked away, Joanna said the liquid ran into her eyes and completely blinded her. “Here I am with two kids and I can’t even see. I began screaming for my granddaughter and told her to get help,” she said.
Joanna fought back tears as she recalled, “My granddaughter was a hero by going to get help, hollering at people in Walmart to come help me. A couple of Walmart employees came and took me to an eye-wash station to help wash my eyes out. Later, I was transported by ambulance to the hospital.”
A significant amount of chatter on social media indicated Lewis was wearing a face covering with a slogan on it when the incident occurred. Joanna was specifically asked if this was true.
“I believe he was wearing a mask when he approached me. Whether or not there was any type of wording on it, I don’t remember. The police told me when he was apprehended, he didn’t have a mask with him,” she said.
Joanna was also asked if she felt this was a hate crime.
“I feel like it was a hate crime because he targeted me because of the color of my skin. I think he randomly targeted me because I was a woman with kids and thought I would make a good victim,” she said.
Joanna was further asked if she had seen security footage of the arrest of Lewis. She replied she had not but indicated officials had told her what happened.
She said she was told when Lewis attempted to leave the store, he probably could have slipped away unnoticed because a description had not yet been provided to law enforcement “… but he chose to take a shopping cart and ram it into the back of a police officer’s legs in the Walmart entry. Another police officer then tried to subdue him and while they were struggling, some guy who was driving by, jumped out of his truck to help subdue him. They now knew he (Lewis) had done something.”
Concerning her grandchildren, Joanna said, “Because this guy had incapacitated me, I had to leave two vulnerable children who were very scared and worried, especially my 10-year-old granddaughter. She thought I was going to die. She was very scared. She was hyperventilating, however, she did really well in helping to take care of her little sister and doing what she had to do in getting me help. Walmart employees helped with the grandkids. My boyfriend was also called and they stayed with the kids until he could get there and the mother of the two kids arrived.”
As the conversation continued, Joanna said, “My first thought was is this some kind of practical joke? Are they just playing? When he poured it over my head, I thought to myself, is this some kind of terrorist act? Is this happening just to me or is it happening to several people in the store? It was very scary because I didn’t know why he targeted me or what the purpose was. When it hit my eyes, I thought I was blinded and I would never be able to see again. I don’t know what this guy poured on me but I could feel my face burning. I had a mask on which may have actually helped prevent additional burns to my face. I literally didn’t know – until we got to the eyewash station – if I would ever be able to see again.”
The effects of the attack are still lingering, Joanna added. She said she was still having trouble with her eyes with dryness and blurry vision. She also has burns on her chest and stomach where the liquid soaked through her clothes. She said her scalp still feels raw from the liquid and despite taking numerous showers since the incident, Joanna said when she is outdoors, the sun causes an unusually intense burning sensation.
“My oldest granddaughter is having trouble sleeping and eating. She is continuously worried about me and my well-being. She wants to talk to me constantly, just to make sure I’m ok. She seems pretty traumatized by this incident,” Joanna said as a tear rolled down her cheek.
When asked if she wanted to continue, at first she seemed unsure. Joanna paused for moment to collect her thoughts, however, and then plowed ahead.
“Sometimes when I leave work late at night, I know I need to look around, check out the surroundings and make sure no one is lingering around. But, when I was at Walmart in the middle of the day in the school supply aisle, I figured I would be safe. I think women and especially women who have kids with them need to be aware that there are people out in the world who are full of hate and have nothing better to do than to hurt someone. We just need to be a little more vigilant and aware of our surroundings, whether we are in a store or outside. We just need to be a little more careful right now because there are a lot of people who are upset with what is going on with the protests and COVID-19. We need to be aware people are on edge and may act out on their beliefs with violence. We think we are in a safety bubble because we are in East Texas and a small town – like things like this can’t happen here – but the truth is, we aren’t safe. We need to be more aware of our surroundings,” Joanna said.
“I don’t know why this guy targeted me. I don’t know him. There is no reason for the world to be so full of hate, right now. We need to learn how to get along with each other and we don’t need so much animosity,” she said. “We, as a country, need to turn to God. Only He can remove hatred and jealousy from our hearts and replace them with His peace and love.”
Before concluding the interview, Joanna expressed her appreciation to the Walmart employees who came to her aid, as well as Palestine Regional Medical Center EMTs and ER staff, the Palestine Police Department, her boyfriend, family, friends, co-workers, church family and everyone else who have been supportive of her during this time.
“I’m thankful I wasn’t hurt worse and I’m very grateful the kids were relatively uninjured. Even though I was a victim of crime,” she asserted, “I don’t consider myself a victim. I’m not going to let this random act of violence – of random hate – I’m not going to allow this to make me fearful. I will have faith over fear. I have faith in God that he will get me through anything. I’m not going to allow this guy to take that away from me.
After his apprehension, Lewis was transported to the Anderson County Jail where he was booked into custody on the following charges: Assault on a Public Servant, Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon, Endangering a Child, Criminal Mischief >$2,500<$30,000 and two Palestine Municipal Court warrants. Lewis is currently being held in the Anderson County Jail with bonds totaling $165,000. The motives behind the attack are still under investigation.
Walmart Store Manager Exposes Systematic Attack on Employee Benefits
Following a series of articles from Walmart employees describing what it’s like to work for the world’s largest private employer, Gawker has just published an anonymous email from a much different perspective: a longtime store manager.
The current assistant store manager was compelled to share his own experience after reading several accounts written by store associates.
The author describes in detail how the company has systematically slashed employee benefits over the course of two decades. “Walmart has been hacking on its benefit and pay structure for years to save on cost,” he says, including merit-based raises, profit-sharing programs and full-time hours. The company has also initiated new programs, such as pay caps for certain positions. “I have many associates who have not received a raise in nearly nine years,” he claims.
Many of these changes came directly from the home office. Walmart has increasingly centralized its employee policies over the last two decades, including hourly raises. Whereas store managers used to be able to provide raises, “now all pay is controlled by home office.”
Walmart has also imposed new restrictions on the number of full-time employees at each store. The company previously required 60 percent of employees to be full-time and has now cut that down to 40 percent full-time, 40 percent part-time and 20 percent temporary workers who are not entitled to any benefits.
“Do you know how hard it is to go to someone that makes $8.85 an hour and tell him, sorry but I have to cut you down to 25.5 hours. These people can barely pay their rent as it is and with no notice we cut their hours.”
Just as many associates have faced retaliation for speaking out, including being outright fired, the author echoed similar concerns for his own job. “I could never send an honest feedback such as this email to anyone of authority at Walmart without being retaliated.”
This latest revelation lends further credence to the federal government’s case against the company for alleged unlawful retaliation against employees exercising their rights. With so many aspects of company policy originating from the home office, it appears unlikely that such retaliatory actions against employees are isolated incidents restricted to a few store managers.
As even more light is shed on what it’s like to work for the world’s largest retailer, we will continue to support Walmart employees speaking out for decent wages, adequate hours and respect on the job.
232 Comments on “Walmart Store Manager Exposes Systematic Attack on Employee Benefits”
Patrick DoyleThere is one way to deal with Walmart, McDonalds, etc.:http://kognitivedissidence.blogspot.com/2014_01_30_archive.html- ErnieThe Vermont Country Store treats its employees in exactly the same fashion. Besides working for $9.00 per hour, call center workers are often sent home in the middle of their shift if some “manager” determines that call volume is too low to justify the number of workers. Often workers are sent home after working an hour or so – maybe not even enough to pay for their gasoline to get to work. If a worker has to call in sick, they almost always are sent home early the next day.The list of abuses goes on, and liberals everywhere think the Vermont Country Store is a “wonderful business”, but it really is no diffrent from Wal Mart.
- JenIm all for people working hard, starting their own businesses and being rewarded for it. But unfortunately greed and the corporate mentality (which is where shareholders are separated from the reality of their earnings… makes it easier to justify doing whatever it takes just to increase their dividends) manifests this cruelty towards humanity. If you are profiting more money than you could ever use, and keep profiting yet make it impossible for others to even work a full week (and these are people that want to work) then that is wrong, plain and simple. On top of that, tax payers are subsidizing healthcare, because walmart doesnt want to since they choose to intentionally hire part time workers. So we are actually giving walmart money out of our taxes. They probably end up profiting off the government because they have amazing tax lawyers and pay a percentage below most people who make under 40,000 per year. I am actually a small business owner & independent contractor so pay double taxes.
In any case, if a company I work with decides to send me home early (unless given previous notice) without compensation for the full hours agreed, I will not work with them again. The cost & time of getting somewhere and only working 4 hours instead of 8 is not worth it. Plus I could have contracted to work with someone else for those hours. Its like stealing hours to make someone be available the whole time, yet send them home without pay for that time. I have often contracted multiple clients for back to back events, and in the past worked 2 or 3 jobs. This allowed me to make much more money, and had these places pulled stunts like that I would not have been able to do that. Workers should at least be given a choice to stay, rather than forced to leave or worse.. forced to lose hours in the middle of a shift where they would not have time to leave or really do anything. Then they could actually know their hours and have an opportunity to work more than one job, instead of being scheduled for a bunch of hours and then being cut at the last minute.
- Vanessa Zoraya Negrón MaldonadI use to work for this company for 10 years and every year my job was in jeopardy for whatever reason, my hard earn raised was always cut short because there was a new assistan sm and he/she didn’t kniw me to give me what I deserved, the medical insurance is half your pay check and still you need to pay more because they ask fir copay, my supervisor committed sexual harassment with me and other ass. And everyone got fired except him.
- The RockIf you are NOT doing your job at the level expected, then your job SHOULD be in jeopardy. How many times did you call out? How many times were you coached for attendance? How many times were you late for work, because you chose to get a cup of coffee and stand around in the breakroom talking to other employees instead of going straight to your area and do what you are being paid for?
- dicki think as a worker i notice the most that they are reducing us down from full time to part time workers,, your schedule shows that you are not a full time worker.. reduced hours and this hurts as your pay is reduced,, making about several years earlier salary,, i want to go in and talk to them about this but know that my boss wont listen,, i worked hard getting 40 cents pay increase each year.. thought that was ok,, but now by reduced hours have destroyed my little paycheck,, and i think they are doing this across the board for sure across the nation.. all the associates are just part timers now. hoping that no one will notice.. but losing 60 dollars a week was my pride.. i had earned it. i hope that the Federal goverment notices that they are doing this.. is not fair and i am so angry. WHEN YOU ARE NOT MAKING SO MUCH,, LOSING THIS MUCH MONEY HURTS.
- Henry RenfroeJust think, Walmart is going to start cutting more hours , probably around the 1st of October 2014 so that this great Fortune 500 company doesn’t have to provide health insurance under the Allordable Healthcare Act. You really can’t blame Walmart; blame it on our almighty President. Soon, look for less than 30 hours per week, and new Walmart employees in your department. These will be great trained employees, because you will be the ones training these new employees.
- Cha leyActually I can blame walmart. Walmart has in the past used its size to get concessions from suppliers so it clearly has the expierence to do something similar when it comes to providing healthcare if it choose to. But even the healthcare issue doesnt excuse walmarts treatment of its employees as a wholle on pay.
After all they could just hike the employees pay to say 14 bucks an hour and 25 hours a week and get out of providing health coverage without screwing over the employees if they wanted to.
