Police seek man in station assault

Police seek man in station assault

The injured man stepped in to assist a gas station clerk.

AUSTINTOWN — A township man was knocked unconscious and suffered a minor head injury when he came to the aid of a gas station employee and got thrown to the floor on his head.

Daniel Grubbs, 48, of Burkey Road, suffered only a bump and scratches on his head and was released Wednesday night from St. Elizabeth Health Center in Austintown, said Austintown Detective Kathy Dina.

A clerk in the Shell True North gas station, 1704 South Raccoon Road, told police she observed a man arguing with a woman outside the gas station Wednesday around 9:30 p.m.

The man entered the store with his cell phone and began yelling, the clerk said.

The clerk told the man to leave, causing him to advance toward her and say, “Oh really, what are you going to do about it?” she told police.

When the man refused a second time to leave, Grubbs, a customer, stepped in and asked the man to leave.

After asking Grubbs “What are you going to do, old man?” he picked Grubbs up and “body slammed him head first onto the floor,” the clerk said.

The man then said something to Grubbs’ young son and left.

On Thursday morning, Youngstown police located the suspect’s vehicle abandoned in a driveway on South Meridian Road.

The suspect’s girlfriend said Grubbs’ son took a picture of her boyfriend’s license plate before her boyfriend drove off.

Dina said Thursday afternoon she was seeking an arrest warrant for the man, a 24-year-old from Austintown, but he had not been located by press time.

She said Grubbs’ injuries were not severe but he was advised to take it easy for a couple of days, the detective added.