XENIA — A person is accused of stealing lottery tickets from a Xenia gas station and running over the employee who tried to stop them.
At around 3 p.m. Sunday, Xenia officers and medics were called to the Maharaja FoodMart on West Second Street to reports of a person hit by a car.
When officers arrived on the scene they found someone laying in the parking lot, bleeding from their head with tire tread marks on their forehead, according to a police report.
A witness described the suspect to police and said that they saw the car suspected to be involved drive away from the scene and pull into a Bridges of Hope.
An officer found the suspect, identified as Charlsteven Jones, in the bathroom of the building and took them into custody.
Jones is accused of entering the FoodMart and asking for scratch-off tickets. The cashier handed them over to the suspect who started walking out of the store.
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The cashier asked the suspect to pay for the tickets and followed them out to their car, reaching into the suspect’s car in an attempt to grab the tickets, according to a police report.
The suspect then put the car into gear, throwing the cashier to the ground and allegedly running them over with their car.
Jones was also identified as and admitted to being the suspect of lottery ticket theft at a Speedway on West Main Street earlier that day.
Akshay Kumar the owner of the Foodmart, said that everyone who works at the business was like “family.”
Kumar described the employee who was hurt as an Uncle to him. They call him “Gopal” and he’s worked with the family for many years.
“Very nice guy. You come in and you’re short on money change anything, a lot of times he’ll take it out of his own pocket and he’ll pay for something so he’s very, very, very loving guy,” Kumar said.
He said “Gopal” is at Miami Valley Hospital with hip trauma, broken ribs and torn ligaments in his right leg.
“The way his injuries were, I think if he would have had one step forward or back ... he would not be here today honestly. We’re very thankful that he’s okay,” Kumar said.
Jones is currently in custody of the Greene County Jail on theft and felonious assault charges.
Jones told police they did not remember hitting the victim, according to a police report.
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