Allegheny County detectives are asking for the public’s help in identifying a man accused of spitting on an employee at Giant Eagle’s store in Edgewood Wednesday morning.
Store manager Aisha Mariner told the Trib’s news partner, WPXI-TV, that the incident happened when she was trying to help a customer who was arguing with a clerk over a transaction.
Police said the man went under a Plexiglass barrier, which Giant Eagle has installed in stores to separate customers from employees during the covid-19 pandemic, and spat on Mariner’s face. The unidentified man then fled.
In an interview, Mariner said she wiped her face and neck with hand sanitizer and “immediately started to pray.”
Edgewood police Chief Robert Payne vowed to arrest the man. Because of the covid-19 pandemic, spitting on someone’s face is putting a person in jeopardy, where “the potential could be death.”
County police have released surveillance images of the suspect, a slender black man with facial hair who was wearing a camouflage hoodie.
The man paid $50 for a money order but then demanded $100, county police said. After store employees reviewed video footage of the transaction and determined $50 was the correct amount, the man began screaming and threatening workers before spitting on the manager, police said.
In a statement, Giant Eagle called the customer’s conduct “wholly unacceptable.”
“We support the efforts of local law enforcement to take every action to ensure that this individual answers for his careless and disrespectful behavior, and are working closely with our affected team member to provide the care she needs and deserves,” the company said in the statement.
Anyone with information about the suspect is asked to call county police at 1-833-255-8477.
