A lunch break turned into classic tragedy in the streets late Tuesday afternoon at the Clam Convenience when a clerk (whose name has been omitted to protect her identity) was allegedly cited with severe fines for disturbing the peace and child endangerment.
A peaceful afternoon quickly became a child-hostage-taking, gun-flailing nightmare when the Clam clerk was seen roughly handling a little girl before exiting the store to brandish her weapon in open threat. The woman was quoted as saying, “Bullets are about to start flying unless everyone hauls ass that way! […] I will hurt you unless you walk, you manly looking cow clit!” Her ire particularly directed at a customer who had been standing just outside the store.
The situation began when the clerk noticed a woman wearing gang patches allegedly staring at her in a ‘threatening’ manner through the shop’s front window: “I was working and she came to the window and started staring in at me. I don’t know why, I don’t know her, but I wasn’t getting a good feeling so I told her to leave or I was calling the cops.”
The situation seemed to inexplicably escalate, however, as tension mounted inside the Clam Clerk became overwhelmed. Eye witnesses say she was holding a little girl by the back of a coat, or backpack, while she screamed for help, her tiny frightened voice just audible outside the shop, “Help! Someone help me! She’s trying to kill me!” The other child, a boy, desperately clawed at the door – which had been locked. By this point bystanders had gathered either to actually attempt to buy something from the store, or by the noise being caused.
After a few, tense moments the clerk released the child and stormed out of the store. Alas, the play had only reached the rising action as she pulled a bright pink side arm and began brandishing it around, demanding everyone leave and claiming to be insensible and hormonal, “I’m pregnant and hormonal so [I] can’t be held responsible if there’s unnecessary casualties!”
The HPD arrived around 3:29 pm; Rookie Officer Santiago Acosta charging onto the scene like a blind bull. Hardly enough time had passed for the words “Step away from the children!” to stop echoing in the streets before he had tazered the first person.
Carly Martini happened to be out at the Clam that afternoon looking for a late lunch. “Me and my girl here wanted ta’ buy some grub, before dis’ bitch locked us out and started fuckin’ with those kids!” she’d said just moments earlier. Sources say the victim seemed to be attempting to help the children, aided by her friend, when she was brutally downed by the officer- who witnesses claim also then kicked her savagely. Ms. Martini did not have her weapon out.
As the overwhelmed children cried, HPD Officer Nick Matfield arrived on scene, looking less than healthy and less than pleased with a scowl and bloodshot eyes. Unfortunately, this was the turning moment in which an already upsetting scene was to become truly tragic. As Matfield entered the fracas, Acosta turned his tazer on the pregnant clerk – now unarmed and calming down. Completely inexplicably Acosta shot the clerk, tazering her, before fleeing the scene and leaving a displeased Matfield to clean up the mess.
While you would expect both women to be seen to by doctors, but it seems you’d be wrong. While Martini was given due difference and allowed to saunter free for the evening without a second glance, the poor clerk was left to grieve for the loss of her baby, a hefty fine the only comfort offered to her.
The story has a happy ending as both children involved made it out relatively undisturbed and were presumably escorted back to their caregivers by Officer Matfield.
The job of a police officer is to protect and defend the vulnerable elements of our society. Without them, those who are most desperately in need often go exploited and abused. With one officer in the wind, and another callously ignoring an injured civilian, it leaves this reporter wondering: If we can’t trust the police, who can we trust?
Then again, this isn’t news to the people of Hathian.
