Crime Beat: Creative Weaponry: Part Two

Man says boss hit him at work site

A construction worker said his foreman struck with a work-site tool Wednesday on the seventh floor of the construction site at the Ross Business School, according to the University of Michigan Department of Public Safety.

The worker said his boss hit him in the groin with a concrete tamper machine – which is the size of a base-ball bat and is used to settle wet concrete – on Wednesday afternoon. The man said he continued to work, then reported the incident to police and sought treatment at a hospital in Lansing. The nature of the injuries was not known.

A loss prevention employee at Sears said a suspected shoplifter repeatedly struck him in the head with a shopping bag as she struggled to escape, city police said.

The incident occurred April 9, but the 20-year-old Sears employee called police Monday to discuss the assault and said he wanted to press charges.

The 15-year-old girl and her sister were shopping in the store when a loss prevention officer noticed the girl enter the dressing room with several pairs of socks and emerge without them. She was carrying a shopping bag from another store.

The employee said the girl first said she would cooperate, then bolted. She and a store manager collided, knocking both to the floor. The girl then struck the loss prevention employee with her bag before additional security guards arrived to help.