Cashier Beaten After Clinging To Teen Shoplifter's Car: Police

EVERGREEN PARK, IL -- A teen and two unknown accomplices fled a dollar store with the cashier clinging to the hood of their car after they stole $23 worth of merchandise, prosecutors said. Mary Lomax, 18, of Chicago, appeared before Cook County Judge John Mahoney on felony charges of aggravated battery charge in a public place and aggravated battery of a merchant. Lomax also faces misdemeanor charges of retail theft and driving on a suspended license.

According to the complaint, Lomax and her pals entered Dollar Tree, 3401 95th St., Evergreen Park, around 8 p.m. Feb. 4. They selected various items and fled the store without paying to a Honda parked in the lot. The cashier followed them outside and hopped on to the hood of their car.

The prosecutor said Lomax was driving and floored the car to 96th before slamming on the brakes. Lomax got out of the car allegedly tried to pull the cashier off the hood. The cashier continued to hang on to the hood, so Lomax got back into the car and drove to the 3200 block of West 97th Street, about a mile away from the store. The prosecutor said Lomax and her friends got out of the car and dragged the cashier off the hood. One of the passengers in Lomax’s car grabbed the cashier by the hair and started punching the cashier’s head, the complaint said.

A neighbor on the block watched the beating and took a picture of the vehicle. The prosecutor said the neighbor turned the picture over to police. Police said they traced the license plate number to Lomax’s address in Chicago. She turned herself into at the Evergreen Park Police Department. The cashier was treated at the hospital for bruising on the torso and face.

The assistant public defender told the judge that Lomax had no prior criminal background. He asked for an I-bond “given the defendant’s young age.”

“I find the facts of this case to be savage,” Mahoney said, setting bail at $500,000.

Lomax is due back in court March 13 in Bridgeview.