Great-grandma attacked at Richmond gas station
RICHMOND, Texas (KTRK) -- Doris Crowder is a mother, grandmother, and great grandmother, and now she finds herself a crime victim. The 67-year-old has the injuries to prove it.
It happened at her job on Dec. 5.
"10:10 pm," she said. "I'll never forget that."
Crowder is a clerk at a Murphy's Gas Station on Bellaire Boulevard near Hwy 99. She says six young men came in to the store and bought a 12 pack case of beer. She said they charged it, then changed their minds. The charge had already gone through and that's when the trouble started.
She was going to refund the charge in cash and they took the money, she said, but also took the beer.
"I went outside to get their license plate, and that's when two of them blindsided me. They knocked me to the ground, took my glasses and hit me so hard it knocked me into the concrete."
ABC13 reporter Deborah Wrigley has the full interview at 10 p.m. on Eyewitness News
Fort Bend County deputies responded. Crowder insisted on driving herself to the emergency room. She had a black eye and x-rays revealed she had two fractured ribs. One knee was injured as well.
The other damage was to her peace of mind.
"I went to Walmart a few days later and I jumped when someone came up behind me," she said.
Four Walmart employees came to her aid after the assault.
"They got me inside, called 911 and stayed with me. They were my angels."
Crowder said she'd been working for Murphy's for 12 years, including managing a store in Montgomery. She said she stepped down from management when she turned 62, and became a clerk.
"You can't make it on social security alone and I take care of my disabled daughter," she said. "I have to work."
Crowder will be returning to the job tomorrow, she said, but it will be for a daytime shift. Her courage is greater than her fear, but she's still nervous about returning to the scene of the crime.
"They did more than steal," she said, with tears in her eyes. "They took a little bit of the world I knew with them."
The suspects have not been identified, but a spokesman for the Fort Bend Sheriff's Office said detectives have security video that is being reviewed for clues, including a description of the vehicle involved, and images of the assailants.
