A 7-Eleven clerk was arrested after allegedly throwing a beer can and a broom at a customer during an argument over a sandwich.
An officer responded to 7-Eleven, located at 11670 U.S. Hwy. 301, Oxford, regarding an unknown disturbance around 5:40 a.m. Wednesday, according to an arrest report from the Wildwood Police Department. The incident arose from a verbal altercation between an employee, later identified as 40-year-old Donald McNaught Thomson, and a customer.
The argument started over a sandwich and the process of heating it up. Thomson escalated the situation by throwing a 25-ounc Chelada beer can toward the customer’s face. He then came out from behind the register, grabbed a broom and threw it at the customer while chasing him out of the store, the report said.
Surveillance footage showed the customer leave the 7-Eleven for about seven seconds before going back in. He approached Thomson and pointed his fingers very closely toward his chest. Thomson looked upset and threw a beer can at him before getting a broom to throw at him, too, the report said.
A witness advised that while he was bringing his purchase up to the counter, the customer was waiting for a pressed sandwich, the report said. Thomson brought it to the counter while making sarcastic remarks, but the witness could not recall the exact words. The customer responded verbally, at which point Thomson threw an object at him while yelling, “Get out of my store!”
The customer then grabbed the witness’s drink that was on the counter and threw it back at Thomson. In response, he picked up a broomstick, ran around the corner and threw it at the customer while continuing to yell at him to get out of the store. The customer was not hit by the beer can or the broom during the incident, the report said.
Thomson was subsequently arrested on charge of aggravated assault with intent to commit a felony. He was transported to the Sumter County Detention Center and released after posting $5,000 bond.