Woman Assaults UES Verizon Store Worker Over Face Mask Dispute

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — Verizon asked the public for help identifying a woman who was seen on video assaulting an employee and calling her a racist slur at a Verizon store on the Upper East Side last week after refusing to wear a face mask.

The incident happened around 5 p.m. Thursday at the East 69th Street and 3rd Avenue store, when the employee asked the woman to put on a mask after entering the store and she refused, a company spokesperson said.

An anti-masker becomes agitated after an employee asks her to put on a mask. This happened at Verizon wireless in NYC on 69th street and third avenue. The employees did a good job maintaining professionalism. Because..... pic.twitter.com/pr2wmJoNuZ
— BallerAlert (@balleralert) September 11, 2020

In the video, the customer can be seen shouting at the employee and accusing her of grabbing her hand. She then hits the employee with an object — a metal bin, according to Gothamist — and threatens to "beat the sh*t" out of her.

As other employees escort the woman out of the store, she can be heard accusing the store of "breaking contract" and "enforcing illegal laws," and shouting the slur as she exits the store.

An NYPD spokesperson confirmed that a woman, identified by Gothamist as the Verizon employee, was taken to New York Presbyterian Hospital with minor injures. No arrests had been made as of Monday morning.

In a statement, Verizon commended the employee for her professionalism, but said the company hoped to identify the woman so it could ban her from its stores.

"We would like to ban her for life from entering our stores and terminate her ability to do business with us," the company said. "If you know who she is please call the the Verizon security hotline at 800-483-0722."