Woman assaults Verizon store worker and uses racial slur over mask rule

Verizon is appealing for the public’s help in identifying a woman who was seen in a viral video throwing a trash can at an Upper East Side cellphone store employee and using a racial slur after being asked to wear a face mask.

The incident took place at around 5pm on Thursday at the Verizon store located at East 69th Street and 3rd Avenue. 

Video documenting the confrontation opens with the unnamed woman yelling an expletive at a masked worker while sitting at a table inside the store and charging her phone.  

A woman flew into a rage and assaulted a worker after reportedly being asked to wear a mask inside a Verizon store on the Upper East Side  last week

Video capturing the incident shows the customer throwing a metal can at the worker after being asked to leave the store 

The female employee tells the irate customer, ‘You have to leave,’ then approaches her and attempts to take the cellphone charger out of her hands, saying that it does not belong to her, as Gothamist first reported. 

‘Get your f***ing s*** away from me, b****!’ the woman shrieks as she shoves the Verizon staffer away. ‘Do not grab my f***ing hands!’

The employee calmly notes that she did not touch the woman and tells her to get out. 

That is when the furious customer grabs a small metal trash can from the table, hurls it at the worker, and then threatens to ‘beat the s***’ out of her. 

Another staffer then intervenes and orders the woman to leave the store, sparking a foul-mouthed tirade. 

‘You can f*** yourself, you f***ing ugly h*,’ she screams at the injured worker, before launching into a rant criticizing Verizon’s service. 

The angry customer could be heard ranting about Verizon’s enforcement of ‘illegal laws,’ yelling profanities and hurling a racial slur at a Black employee  

‘I’m not walking around the goddamn f***ing city without data, you pieces of s***,’ she hollers at the top of her lungs. ‘You’re not only f***ing breaking contract, you’re enforcing illegal laws, and you don’t f***ing tell me what to do!, and you don’t grab my f***ing hands!’

As she is escorted to the door by the male worker, who is African-American, the woman, who appears to be white, calls him a ‘fat, ugly n*****.’ 

An NYPD spokesperson has confirmed that a female employee at the Verizon store suffered minor injuries and was treated at New York Presbyterian Hospital after a customer threw a bin at her face because she was angered by the store’s policy requiring everyone to wear a face covering to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Police have launched an investigation into the assault, but so far no arrests have been made. 

Verizon is asking for the public’s help in identifying the woman who assaulted the worker at this location so that she could be banned for life 

Verizon released a statement, thanking the injured worker for her professionalism and asking for help in identifying the irate customer 

‘We would like to ban her for life from entering our stores and terminate her ability to do business with us,’ the company said. ‘The health and safety of our employees and customers is our number 1 priority. We will not tolerate behavior like this.’

Anyone with information on the woman seen in the video is being asked to call the the Verizon security hotline at 800-483-0722.