An off-duty Hillsdale Police Department officer working a security shift was punched, thrown to the ground and stomped on the head early Sunday morning outside a QuikTrip gas station in Spanish Lake, Missouri, according to police and charging documents. Two 20-year-old women, Shaniya Lewis and Nayonna Griffin, now face felony charges in connection with the attack, which was captured on video and has since spread widely online.
The confrontation happened around 2:30 a.m. on October 11 at the QuikTrip located at 12110 Lusher Road, according to a report from Yahoo News. Police say the trouble began when Griffin threw items at the officer, prompting him to approach her, and Lewis then intervened in the ensuing struggle and threw the officer to the ground, according to charging documents cited by the New York Post.
Once the officer was on the ground, police say Lewis repeatedly punched him in the face while Griffin stomped on his head. Investigators also allege that Lewis reached for the officer's holstered firearm during the struggle but was unable to remove it, per the same police account relayed by Yahoo News.
Backup Arrives as Suspects Resist Arrest
Another officer entered the gas station and helped take the two women into custody, according to the Post's reporting on the charging documents. Griffin resisted officers attempting to detain and handcuff her, allegedly grabbing an officer's hair while kicking and flailing, the charging documents state. Fox 2 Now reported that both women flailed and refused to be handcuffed when additional officers arrived at the scene.
Accounts differ on how seriously the officer was hurt. Fox2now.com reported that the officer was hospitalized Sunday for treatment of his injuries, while the Yahoo News article states that his department said he suffered only minor injuries and was recovering at home. Neither report resolves the discrepancy, and the officer's identity has not been made public.
Felony Charges and Six-Figure Bonds
The St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney's Office charged Lewis and Griffin with second-degree assault of a special victim and resisting or interfering with a felony arrest, according to Yahoo News and the New York Post.
Both women are being held at the St. Louis County Justice Center on separate $100,000 cash-only bonds, with no 10% option available, according to Yahoo News. The St. Louis County Police Department's North County Precinct is handling the ongoing investigation, according to the Post.
Video Spreads as Second Incident Hits Same Gas Station
Footage of the attack, which the Post reports ran about two minutes, has circulated widely on social media. Video of the encounter has racked up more than 1.5 million views on Facebook, according to First Alert 4's reporting carried by Yahoo News. KMOV St. Louis also posted a video about the attack on Facebook. The Post also reported that the man filming the incident did not intervene to help the officer.
This is not the first violent incident at the same QuikTrip this year. Just 99 days before Sunday's attack, another off-duty police officer working security there exchanged gunfire with a suspect in the parking lot on July 4, and nobody was injured, the same Yahoo News article notes. The two incidents involved different defendants and officers from different departments, though both occurred at the same business while off-duty officers were providing security, according to the outlet's reporting.
