Safety at Work
Atlanta, GA (WorkersCompensation.com) – A postal worker said she was loading up her truck when a man approached her co-worker and attacked her.
Police in Atlanta said the injured worker, Monique Thomas, was receiving care for non-life-threatening injuries after she was attacked with a rock outside a post office on Plasters Avenue.
Nykiria Reedy, the victim’s co-worker, said the postal worker was on the phone with her daughter when the attack happened.
“He hit her in the back of the head, she kind of stumbled to the ground, when she kind of got back up and turned around she was trying to fight him back and by that time he was just punching her, punching her, punching her,” Reedy said. “When she hit the ground, he started beating her head into the concrete.”
Reedy said she was working and loading up her truck when she witnessed the attack. She said the attacker “looked crazy” as he unleashed his fury on the victim, but Thomas tried to fight back.
Police identified the suspect as 21-year-old Jahmare Brown
“By that time, he was just punching her, punching her, punching her,” she said. Brown then moved to banging Thomas’ head on the concrete. “At least like five or six times, that’s what we saw.”
Despite her efforts, Brown continued to attack her.
“She was crying, but like her tears were blood, like, running out of her head – probably from him banging her head into the concrete,” Reedy said.
The victim, Reedy said, was a “sweet lady” and “at least 50 years old.”
After the attack, the suspect took the woman’s phone, then got on his bike and started heading towards the Beltline area of Atlanta.
On Tuesday, Melinda Gilbert, the postal worker’s friend, told Channel 2’s Michael Seiden that Thomas suffered a broken nose and a head injury that required staples.
“She’s not in a good place right now,” Gilbert said. “The side of her face, her eye is closed, all black and blue. She was black and blue all over.”
Gilbert said Thomas was taking a break from work and talking to her daughter on the phone when the attack happened.
“She said he didn’t say anything, he just started beating her,” Gilbert said. “Her daughter heard everything. So, her daughter called 911,” she said.
Gilbert said Thomas is working on recovering now.
“She’s an amazing person, hard worker, you know. She’s been at the post office for years, and you wouldn’t think on your job that something like this would happen, but it did,” Gilbert said. “I’m just glad she survived, and I’m glad she’s alive.”
People near where Thomas was attacked said the area is home to a number of unstable people. But, they told Channel 2, people should be able to come to work without being attacked.
“There’s no excuse for it. It’s unexplainable,” Jacques Meadows, who lives near the post office near where the worker was attacked, said.
Meadows said on Wednesday a homeless person threatened him after he blew his horn to get him to move out of the street.
“And he got upset and he picked up a rock and he started going like this, like he was going to throw the rock at me,” he said.
Meadows runs on the Beltline four times a week and often sees the postal workers. He says they are friendly, and the postal worker didn’t deserve to be attacked.
“She probably came to work like a normal day like you came to work today, like I just left work today,” Meadows said.
Atlanta police said the attack happened shortly before Brown fatally stabbed 23-year-old Alyssa Paige along the Beltline.
Fulton County Jail records show that Brown was booked Friday on murder, aggravated assault, aggravated battery and possession of a firearm or knife charges. Police said there would be increased police presence on the Beltline going forward.
U.S.P.S. officials said assaulting a federal postal worker is a federal offense, carrying severe penalties of up to 10 years in prison and fines.
