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Grand Jury indicts woman accused of punching Walmart employee on two felony counts

By Howard B. Owens

A 26-year-old Batavia woman accused of punching a 70-year-old Walmart employee during a busy Christmas Eve shopping day has been indicted on two felony counts by a Genesee County Grand Jury.

Jacquetta B. Simmons, of 106 Ellsworth Ave., Batavia, is indicted on two charges of assault in the second degree.

Simmons will be arraigned April 12 on the charges in county court by Judge Robert C. Noonan.

The two Class D felony charges carry potential prison terms -- for a person with no criminal history, as is the case with Simmons -- of from two to seven years.

Simmons was arrested Dec. 24 after reportedly being followed out to her car by a number of Walmart shoppers, who prevented her car from leaving the parking lot.

According to witness reports, Simmons hit Grace Suozzi hard enough to knock her 10 feet across the floor. Souzzi suffered fractures in her face.

Suozzi reportedly asked Simmons for a receipt for a bag of merchandise prior to being hit.

Buffalo attorney Earl Key has suggested there may be additional circumstances to the case that haven't come out yet.

One of the assault charges against Simmons stems from a law passed in 2008 making it a felony to assault and cause injury to a person 65 or older. Simmons is the first person in Genesee County charged under the relatively new law.

Besides having no criminal history, Simmons is a college graduate with strong ties to the community.

She remains out of jail on $40,000 bond, reportedly posted by her parents.

The story of the alleged assault gained national media attention after first being reported by The Batavian.

Scott Birkby

How come there aren't any "white leaders" staging rallys and protest marches over this? Why hasn't the President chimed in on this issue? Why doesn't Spike Lee "tweet" the address of the perp to his followers? Why doesn't Aryan Nations put out a bounty on her head? Hmmm.....

Mar 28, 2012, 12:09pm Permalink
Bruce Wiseley

I don't think's it CRAP, Greg, it's called CLASS! Which is what those other groups are lacking. I also wonder why those same individuals, Al and Jesse, never prorest the chronic Black on Black crime, which occurs weekly? Also, why did this incident take a MONTH to come to the attention of the Liberal Media? Oh, I remember now, they were too busy lobbying for FREE Birth Control for college girls!

Mar 28, 2012, 1:39pm Permalink
matt riggi

this is a completely different situation. bad example to vent your frustration about an entirely different national story.

Mar 28, 2012, 1:45pm Permalink
Jeffrey Houseknecht

I think that Scott is absolutely right,I don't think Ms. Suozzi's race had anything to do with the assault, but turn it around a white girl assaulting a black woman greeter and there would be outrage and turned into a racial situation even though she was assaulting the greeter based on anger over asking for a receipt. And just the fact of a 26 year old beating the crap out of a 70 year old woman should get you fired up.

Mar 28, 2012, 3:14pm Permalink
Mark Brudz

A friend of mine who is a beat reporter in Boston once told me, " The first rule as a reporter is that no matter how much you think you know about a case, you know nothing. First reports most often turn out to be wrong, second reports are usually a little better, but in the end, it is what happens in court that counts."

Mar 28, 2012, 3:34pm Permalink
matt riggi

If this girl wasn't arrested, then yes, maybe people would protest her actions. She was arrested and indicted. What Scott is referring to is a completely different scenario. A teenage kid was shot and killed by a man who followed him for no reason at all other than he looked "suspicious" even after 911 dispatchers told him not to, and wasn't even arrested. Police mishandled the investigation. In my opinion, it doesn't matter what nationality these people are, the ball was dropped in the murder of a teenage kid. Again, two completely different cases and a bad example to use when trying to vent your frustration over a story in the national media.

Mar 28, 2012, 3:35pm Permalink
Jeff Allen

Mark, if there was a way to triple thumbs up a comment, I would. That sums up all that is wrong with how our media, the general public, and now our government wade into issues before all the facts are known and absolutely influence the adjudication and poison potential jury pools.

Mar 28, 2012, 4:56pm Permalink
Mark Brudz

I don't know your news source but, recent things have come to light and have been substntiated by eye witnesses

But you are correct as far as this being a poor comparison

1) The shooter claims t have backed off the pursuit and returned his SUV

2) The shooter claimed that whem he returned to the care the kid, pursued him

3) The eye witness said that the kid was on top of the shooter beating him when he arrived, he then went in his apartment to call 911, when he came out kid was dead

4) Shooter when police arrived, had grass stains on his back, cuts and abrasions and a broken nose

5) It was NOT the police on scene that made decision not to arrest, it was tossed up to DA's office and they said not enough evidnce at this point to arrest because of witness statement and the need for further investigation. The first cop on scene wanted to arrest for manslaughter, he was overriden by investigator who sought advice of DA-- Police report was released yesterday which list all this.

6) This case happened a month ago, is and was under investigation, justice moves slowly but moves. It became a national incident when Sharpton showed up, which is actually making finding justice more difficult

Justice is not allawys a conviction.

The Florida case and the Walmart case are not the same, but the national media is doing a really poor job of reporting the facts, i8s beginning to sound like the Duke Lacrss case actually.

I say, get it out of the news until grand jury decides, report the incident, report being passed to grand jury, save opinions until Grand Jury either indicts or passes no bill

Mar 28, 2012, 6:49pm Permalink
matt riggi

Mark- I totally agree with most of what you're saying. The media certainly stretches the truth to make a story. I dont defend them in any way. This is my opinion to your responses:
1- Why did he go back to the SUV? What happened? was there an altercation?
2- If I'm being followed by someone who suddenly returns to their vehicle, I'm probably going to approach them too. I don't see why the teen is at any fault for that.
3- What were the events that lead to the kid on top of the shooter? Who started the altercation? Again, evidence that we dont know, as you have stated.
4- Same as #3, what caused that? How do we know the shooter didn't start the fight? Was the kid acting in self defense at this point?
5- I'm not up to date on all that, so I'm not going to comment.
Here's a couple quotes from ABC news that I thought were itneresting:
-"ABC News also learns that Zimmerman violated major principles of the Neighborhood Watch manual, which states, “it should be emphasized to members that they do not possess police powers, and they shall not carry weapons or pursue vehicles.” Honest question, Is this a law? Should he have been arrested for doing that?
-" Sanford Police Chief Bill Lee announces he will “temporarily” stepping down amid accusations that his department bungled the investigation into the shooting death of Trayvon Martin.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott also announces State Attorney Norman Wolfinger, another key investigator tied to the case, has agreed to withdraw." Why would they withdraw if they did everything right? Here's the website, you can read the whole timeline:
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2012/03/trayvon-martin-case-timel…

The bottom line is this: You can't take the law into your own hands, I dont care how unsafe the neighborhood is. This kid was doing nothing wrong for this man to follow him. He was racialy profiled. A black kid with his hood up, in zimmermans eyes, meant a kid on drugs looking for trouble (which is what he said in the 911 call). The only person looking for trouble was zimmerman. You can say whatever you want about the medias handling of this case. Bottom line: this guy thought he could take justice into his own hands. At most, he should have called the cops and let them handle "it"...which everyone is still trying to figure out what that "it" is. An unarmed teen was shot by a grown man for absolutely no reason. This is why there are protests. Show me evidence where this kid was doing anything illegal which rightfully warranted zimmerman to follow him, and I will completely back off my stance...Until then, this is a vigilante who racially profiled a kid and murdered him!

Mar 28, 2012, 8:46pm Permalink
Mark Brudz

The claim by Zimmerman is that he returned to his SUV when the 911 operator told him not to follow. There is however what appears to be a 60 second gap in his story.

Do not get me wrong, I am not defending Zimmerman, what I am saying is, that what you often hear in the press is not always what is borne out by the investigative facts.

We are fortunate here top have great local journalist that have an excellent rapport with local law enforcement, and who are very quick to correct errors or story updates. that is not always the case in larger cities or the national media.

What I am saying, and all that I am saying is, judging him or the young lady mentioned in this article is wrong based on news reports alone, we need to let things play out in grand juries and courts.

Mar 28, 2012, 9:39pm Permalink
Lorie Longhany

Matt, I totally agree with you.

A 17 year old kid was walking home from a convenient store with an iced tea and skittles. He is pursued and followed by a stranger. The kid called his girlfriend and told her about the guy who was following him. I'm sure he felt unsettled and maybe he was scared. His girlfriend told him to run. If the kid fought back (which not sure he even did fight back) isn't that exactly what we teach our kids to do if they are pursued by a stranger who may be trying to abduct or hurt them?

Now that ABC has released the video tape of Zimmerman arriving at the police station, it appears that Zimmerman doesn't have any visible injuries. He certainly is walking fine, no blood visible, his nose looks fine, his clothes aren't even damp. Not what someone in the fight for his life might look like. This blows Zimmerman's story completely apart.

Folks, I think we have a teachable moment here. Was this a racist attack? I don't know. No one but Zimmerman knows that. Calling someone a " f^%*ing coon" would appear to have a racial element.

We hosted a little girl from age 7-17 through the Fresh Air program. I learned a lot through those years about our differences and saw issues of race from the lens of a little black girl. A much different perspective.

I also had a more recent teachable moment just last week during the police check point on St Patty's Day. I was coming home from work with my African American friend and coworker. It was my turn to drive. As we approached the police at the checkpoint, I needed my wallet from my purse which was in the backseat. I asked my friend to reach back and grab it for me. He asked me if I was crazy. He then told me a black guy never reaches for anything in the presence of the police. I reached for my purse myself, without incidence.

We as a society need to move past race and stereotyping. Hopefully this tragedy will help, but sadly I doubt it will. We still have a long way to go.

Mar 29, 2012, 12:49am Permalink
Frank Bartholomew

Mark, if the police investigation into this shooting is shoddy at best, what can the courts do to correct that?
The DA can only present evidence to a grand jury, if that evidence was gathered in a questionable police investigation, there is not much a grand jury can do.
Lorie, your last sentence sums up the whole picture.

Mar 29, 2012, 5:24am Permalink
Mark Brudz

Frank, I will remind you that we do not know if the investigation was shoddy, but we do know it was the DA, not the police there that made the decision to hold off arrest. That is my point,

All that I can say to all of you is, remember the Duke Lacross Case, for months those damn rich lacross players were racist, sexist and a few other choice words, as the investigation developed, turned out to be the furthest thing from the truth.

Or the park bombing in Atlanta, remember the Press was all over that security guard, called him a racist too, turned out to a john birch type from North Carolina actually did it

In both cases, innocent lives were destroyed by the press. I don't know what the facts are in Florida, guess what, neither do any of you!

Mar 29, 2012, 9:53pm Permalink
Frank Bartholomew

Mark, that is why I said "if".
If Al and Jesse would shut up until all the facts in this case are discovered, we wouldn't have this racial tension.
I can recall when I worked 4pm - 1am, I was stopped and questioned by the police as I walked home. When I asked why they were harrasing me, they straight up told me, if a crime in the area where I was walking was reported around the time I was in that area, I would become a prime suspect. No profiling, no racism, just plain harrasment.
This played out several times until I finally got sick of it. I politly asked the officer who stopped me for his name and badge number, and told him I would turn that information over to an attorney if I was stopped and questioned again.
Apparently walking home from work is a suspicious activity if it occurs in the early morning hours, or is dependent on where you are walking.

Apr 2, 2012, 5:33am Permalink

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