Nakeyah Smith Illinois woman attacked by Dolton Shell gas station male attendant trying to use the restroom. Incident caught on video leads to boycotting of store.
Video has captured a black woman being assaulted by a male attendant after trying to use a toilet at a Chicago-area gas station.
Video shows Nakeyah Smith being repeatedly punched in the head by a male attendant after finishing using a toilet at a Shell station in Dolton, Illinois.
Nakeyah is seen slumping in front of a shelf as the employee, dressed in a neon visibility jacket, strikes her in the head.
‘Open the door!’ the man’s voice is heard screaming in the video.
Notice of the assault came after a stranger filmed the unfolding incident and shared it with WBBM.
Wet herself out of fear
‘Every time I close my eyes to go to sleep, that’s just all I see,’ Smith who was left bruised by the assault told WBBM.
It is unclear from the report when the assault took place, though the attendant responsible for the attack turned himself in to Dolton police, Tuesday afternoon.
Smith says she asked the man if she could use the bathroom at the 24-hour outlet on 1445 E. Sibley Boulevard, 20 miles south of downtown Chicago.
He said no, but Smith went in after getting the OK from a female employee.
‘She let me go to the bathroom,’ Nakeyah told WBBM.
Later, ‘I hear him come from behind the counter and go to lock the door.’
Nakeyah said she wet herself out of fear of what the attendant might do next.
July 23, 2021. Activists and concerned citizens come together to effectuate a boycott of this Shell gas station in the 1400 block of East Sibley in Dolton Illinois. A female customer was seen on video being punched in her head by a male employee.
Photos: Martin G Johnson pic.twitter.com/klPz02gfAD
— LEGAL HELP FIRM ⚖️ (@lhfirm) July 24, 2021
Boycott of Dalton Shell gas station
‘It’s a medical condition. I can’t control it all the time,’ Smith said.
When she went to unlock the door, ‘he pushed me, I pushed him back,’ Smith said.
‘So I continued to let myself out and he started hitting me.’
By 10pm Wednesday, the gas station was closed after residents protested outside, with one woman holding a sign reading, ‘#Justice4Keyah.’
Others had complained about the attendant before, according to WBBM.
‘When you get complaints, check into those complaints,’ said Nakeyah Smith’s mother, Tene Smith. ‘Those were blows,’ said Tene Smith. ‘He attacked her.’
Violence against women
Dolton Mayor Tiffany Henyard released a statement about the incident on her Facebook page Thursday.
‘I am personally saddened, hurt, and angry after viewing this horrifying video. Before any title I may have, I am a black woman first. This young lady’s pain is also my pain,’ she said.
Henyard added that she ordered the chief of police to work closely with the Cook County State’s Attorney to make sure that ‘proper’ charges are brought against the attendant.
‘This incident speaks directly to the issue of violence against women in this country. My heart hurts for this young woman. I am praying not only that she heals from the injuries she has suffered, but moreover the mental aspects in which she will now have to endure.’
The identity of the male gas station attendant to date has not been divulged.
