Courtesy Clerk Accused of Slashing 2 Shoppers

SAN FRANCISCO —  A supermarket courtesy clerk allegedly attacked and slashed the faces of two customers who refused to clean up the mess from a broken bottle, police said.

“This is not typical of our stores,” Debra Lambert, a spokeswoman for the Oakland-based Safeway supermarket chain, said Wednesday.

Antoinette McCullough, 23, had just finished her shift at Safeway about 2 a.m. Monday when the couple knocked over a beer bottle, which shattered on the floor, authorities said.

McCullough asked them to help her clean up the mess. When they refused, she began swinging at them with a piece of the bottle, police said.

“Things deteriorated from that point,” said San Francisco Police Lt. Dan Lawson. McCullough, who is being held on two counts of assault with a deadly weapon, told police that the male customer, identified as Michael Red, had tried to punch her and that she slashed him in self-defense.

Red, 45, was treated and released from St. Mary’s Hospital with a facial cut. His companion, Kendra Whittaker, 23, was treated at the hospital for a 5-inch facial cut.

As a courtesy clerk, McCullough bagged groceries and helped customers, Lambert said.