‘Don’t Know What the F–k You Doing’: Irate Customer Allegedly Knocked Down, Stomped Black Worker at Mississippi Dollar General While Management, Customers Just Stoodby, Didn’t Call Police

Michelle Renee Abney was three weeks into her job at a Dollar General store in Laurel, Mississippi, when she said she was attacked by an irate customer who knocked her down and stomped on her with steel-toe boots as her managers watched without intervening or calling the police.

Abney posted an 18-minute Facebook Live video about it on July 16, four days after the alleged incident, describing how she had been asked by a manager to unlock the ice machine to allow a customer to purchase a bag of ice.

However, she said the manager had tossed her three sets of keys and Abney said she had not yet been trained as to which key unlocks the ice machine.

“I’m new. So I don’t know which key it is,” Abney said in her video. “The customer that was waiting on the ice started getting aggravated.”

She said the man, whom she identifies as Desmond Pollard but who goes by “Big Dez,” then started berating and insulting her.

“If you don’t know what the f_ck you doing, it seems like you don’t even need to be motherf_cking working here,” she accused the man of saying.

“I’m like, sir, I’m new. Don’t talk to me like that while I’m trying to help assist you,” is how she said she responded to him. “I’m new. I don’t know which key it is. I’m sorry, but I don’t.”

She said that was when Pollard pushed her and punched her. Abney said she began defending herself by punching him back, but then he knocked her down on the ground and began kicking her with steel-toe boots and that several people, including employees and management, just stood there and watched him attacking her.

“Until I finally could get him off me,” she said, adding that she ended up with a swollen face and abrasions on her legs.

She describes Pollard as a well-known figure in the community who instills fear in people, which is why no one wanted to intervene.

“Everybody’s scared of Big Dez,” she said. “That’s why they said they didn’t stop it. Because it was Big Dez.”

Police Response

Abney said she quit the job and reported the incident to the Laurel Police Department which confirmed there is an open investigation that might lead to misdemeanor charges against Pollard.

“It appears to be a misdemeanor because of the nature of the lady’s injuries,” said Laurel Police Chief Tommy Cox in a phone interview with Atlanta Black Star. “No broken bones, just scapes.

Chief Cox said he is assisting her in filing a report against Pollard, but it will be up to the local judge on Wednesday during a probable cause hearing to determine whether to sign a warrant for his arrest.

“I’m not advocating anybody ever lay hands on a woman; that’s despicable as far as I’m concerned, but for any kind of assault, the injuries have to reach a very high level for it to become aggravated assault,” Cox said. “So, at this point, it looks to be a misdemeanor assault for the city court.”

Abney also said management at the Dollar General store was not being cooperative in the investigation by not allowing police to watch security video footage of the incident.

“They didn’t even want to give them the tape. They didn’t even want to let the officer watch the tape,” she said.

Calls to the local Dollar General store where she worked went unanswered, and an email to the company’s media relations department in Tennessee remains unanswered.

Abney’s initial Facebook Live video has been viewed 1.7 million times and has received more than 5,900 comments, most of which are outraged over her story.

‘Don’t Know What the F–k You Doing’: Irate Customer Allegedly Knocked Down, Stomped Black Worker at Mississippi Dollar General While Management, Customers Just Stoodby, Didn’t Call Police