A mini-mart clerk in Louisiana was fired after a video showed her throwing a bucket of water on a homeless person sitting outside the store in frigid temperatures.
The incident took place Monday at the Triple S Food Mart in Baton Rouge. Temperatures were around 26 degrees that day as a severe Arctic blast swept the U.S.
Kasey Young, the 44-year-old clerk, uploaded the clip of herself throwing a bucket of water on the homeless person sitting in the parking lot. She can be heard yelling, “Move! Not telling y’all again. Move it!”
Ms. Young then complains about a mess that a group of people made in the store as she walks back inside
Store owner Abdul Muflahi apologized for Ms. Young’s actions and said he fired her the next day
“When I got the news, I didn’t speak to the employee too much,” Mr. Muflahi said at a press conference. “All I told her was to leave the property because we do not handle situations like that.”
The store owner said separately that homeless people loitering was affecting his business. Mr. Muflahi acknowledged that Ms. Young had called the police on homeless people hanging out at the store many times before.
The doused homeless man was taken to a shelter, according to Baton Rouge Mayor Sharon Weston Broome.
Local activists spoke out against Ms. Young’s actions.
“For someone to get ice cold water thrown on them in these below-freezing temperatures is just disrespectful,” Larry McGriffin, a member of Evolve Louisiana, told WVLA-TV in Baton Rouge. “It also could’ve hurt this person physically.”
The same convenience store where Alton Sterling was shot and killed by police after he was accused of waving a gun around and illegally selling CDs. The city of East Baton Rouge agreed to pay $4.5 million to the Sterling family in 2021 after settling a wrongful death lawsuit.
• Matt Delaney can be reached at mdelaney@washingtontimes.com.
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