Witness wants charges laid in reported attack at Winnipeg store by staff

An eyewitness wants to see a food fare staff member fired and charged, after they reportedly saw an employee punch a vulnerable woman in the face in front of her child, however the owner of the store says it’s taking swift action to address the incident.

In the video shown to CityNews the woman — who isn’t ready to go on camera — tries to hit the staff member as he pulls on her purse, before punching her directly in the face. He then approaches another woman and appears to strike her as well before the scuffle is broken up by staff.

“That’s when he turned around and punched her, just punched her right in the mouth so hard, that I heard it and I was just: ‘like what the hell?'” said Angela Antoine.

Antoine was inside the store at the time, and feels indigenous woman who was hit, was racially profiled.

“All of this just triggered a whole bunch of stuff in me about why it’s not safe to be an Indigenous woman in Canada — in Winnipeg — this is where I was born and raised and I can’t even go into a store without being that person who is followed or witnessing something like that day,” she explained.

Advocate Barbara Guimond questioned the store’s owner about the employee’s behaviour and says she agrees with Antoine the incident should merit charges. 

“If they’re going to be store owners; they should be courteous and friendly and they shouldn’t be attacking our people, because we’re always racially profiled and that needs to stop!” said Guimond.

Winnipeg Police confirmed the assault at the store, but no charges have been laid and an investigation is ongoing. 

The store’s owner, Tarik Zeid, says the employee has been suspended and next steps are still being determined, but denied what happened was rooted in racism.

“That shouldn’t have happened — it was a situation that got out of hand,” said Zeid. “Half of my customers, if not more, are Aboriginal and we don’t profile anybody.” 

He says they are looking at more training to prevent future incidents and wants to meet with the woman and her child to work on a solution. 

“I was brought up to respect people and show people respect and treat people proper and that’s what we do and that’s what we’ll continue to do.”