Dania Beach 7-Eleven employee speaks out about irate customer accused of ramming her with car

By MARISELA BURGOS, RUBÉN ROSARIO

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    DANIA BEACH, Florida (WSVN) — A dispute over a payment method took a dangerous turn for a 7-Eleven employee in Dania Beach who said an angry customer rammed her with her car.

Speaking with 7News on Wednesday, Laquisa said she snapped several images of a customer who wasn’t happy that she wasn’t getting attended.

“I told her, ‘You know what?’ Just take your money and go elsewhere.’ She didn’t want to hear that,” she said. “I had a store full of people, a line so long, holding my line up and everything for $13.”

The clerk, who didn’t want to show her face on camera and only wanted to be referred to by her first name, said the incident happened at the end of October at the 7-Eleven on Stirling Road.

“If someone refuses your service, you can’t get mad. Just take it elsewhere,” said Laquisa, “so now you have to face way more and pay way more than $13 from something you just could have walked away so easily with.”

Laquisa said it started when the customer, later identified as Shekinah Maraj-Pierre wanted to use two different payments to pay for gas.

“I said, ‘OK, well, you have to do either cash or card first, pump the gas and then come back [inside], because we don’t do partial payments,’” she said. “[The customer said], ‘Oh. you’re making my [expletive] head hurt, oh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh.’ I said, ‘You know what? You can just take your $13 and go to another gas station ’cause I’m not taking your service. So I said, ‘Next.’”

That’s when, Laquisa said, the customer became irate and took down a display filled with snacks.

But the situation became even more violent outside the store when, Laquisa said, she went to take a picture of the customer’s car tag.

“I’m thinking she’s gonna leave. Oh, no. That’s not what she had in mind,” she said.

The employee gave 7News a recording of some surveillance video of what happened that afternoon.

“She turned her wheels toward me, sideswiped me with the front of the car on my knees,” she said. “She went up, she stopped, she reversed her car back, turned her wheel and rammed her car into me.”

Maraj-Pierre was arrested, and on Wednesday, she appeared in bond court.

“I did find probable cause for that charge,” said Broward Circuit Judge Chris Brown.

Maraj-Pierre’s husband pleaded with the judge to lower her bond.

“My wife is a full-time student. She’s right now, currently working on her master’s. She graduates next month,” he said. “She has never been in trouble at any point of her life, sir, so this is all a misunderstanding.”

But Broward County Assistant State Attorney Eric Linder argued this isn’t a misunderstanding, especially when the driver puts the car in reverse.

“Continuing driving while someone’s on your hood after intentionally striking them, with enough speed that they fall 10 feet away from your car, it’s a violent act. It’s a cause for concern,” he said.

Maraj-Pierre’s bond was lowered, and on Wednesday evening, she walked out of jail. She declined to comment.

Laquisa said her knees ache, and she hasn’t been the same since the incident.

“It hurts so bad. They don’t understand the pain that I’m going through,” she said.

Maraj-Pierre did not have a prior criminal history, but she is currently facing a charge of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.

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