Corner stores and convenience stores are used by everyday people to get quick drinks, snacks, or even to socialize with neighbors and friends. They provide a very important service for bringing communities together through their shared community space. People find themselves walking into these stores, saying hello to the cashier or owner and even sitting down to eat their food. Every day people walk into these stores as a part of their lives. Students may get breakfast before they get to school, employees may take their lunch break at these stores, and everyone in between may stop in for a cup of coffee and a quick conversation. Because people of all ages enter these stores, it is very important that the store is a safe place for all its customers. No one who enters a community corner or convenience store should feel preyed upon by anyone in the store, but especially not a store owner or employee.
Unfortunately, customers are mistreated or assaulted by individuals at corner stores, sometimes even by a store employee. This nightmare situation happened to a young girl while a customer at her local corner store in Philadelphia. The young girl had entered her local corner store to get food for her and her siblings. After she had ordered and sat down, the cashier of the store walked up to her and asked some innocently seeming questions. He asked her about how old she was and what school she went to. After these questions he touched her in an explicitly sexual manner, sexually assaulting her in her local corner store.
Once she became a client of Bellwoar Kelly, LLP, we understood that fighting for our client would not just be fighting this one incident, but for every time a girl entered a store and was treated with misconduct. We understand that anyone, including young girls, can be targeted for sexual assaults by an unsuspecting person and in a place that they thought was safe. We know that these actions happen far too often and frequently fly under the radar, and that no one should be subject to nonconsensual touching in any capacity, but especially in shared place of community. Bellwoar Kelly, LLP is currently fighting for the young girl to get compensation for the immense pain and suffering she experienced at her local corner store.
This young girl believed that she was in a safe environment when she entered the corner store. She was unaware that the store employee was plotting to commit a sexual offense against her and was in shock as soon as the assault occurred. Community environments such as local corner stores should be places where people can safely get what they need, not places where customers must be alert to protect themselves from serious crimes. If you or a loved one were sexually assaulted at a business by an employee, call Bellwoar Kelly, LLP at (610) 314-7066 or click HERE for a free consultation. No one should have to go through something like this, but if you find yourself in this situation, call Bellwoar Kelly, where victims fight back.