DALLAS (WBAP/KLIF News) – The attorney for a man who was assaulted in a Target parking lot in Uptown in January said his client is suing the retailer for not preventing the ambush.
Attorney Chris Hamilton also said that particular location, on North Haskell Avenue near Lemmon, has a three-year history of violent crimes that the store never tried to clean up.
“I have never seen a case where we are having violent incidents every week at a publicly-owned retail store or place of business and this continues to be allowed to occur,” he said.
Derek Whitener, a locally-known actor in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, went into a coma and suffered permanent brain damage as a result of the attack.
“What Derek wants to see happen is for Target to clean up their act, take responsibility for what happened and take the steps to make sure this doesn’t happen again. Rather than just continue to cover up the problem in a way that endangers the community,” said Hamilton.
He said the target security guard indirectly led him into it by allegedly telling Whitener the two assailants were taken care of and instructing him not to call police.
Hamilton also said that the guard told the suspects that Whitener reported them as being suspicious.
Dallas police arrested an unidentified juvenile and 17-year-old Zantrell Sauls in connection with the attack. Sauls is charged with aggravated assault, a second-degree felony.
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