Surveillance video captured a shirtless man attacking a business owner outside a downtown store.
AUSTIN, Texas — George Scariano says his Downtown Austin grocery store is in a terrible cycle of crime.
Earlier this month, surveillance video captured an apparent attack outside the Royal Blue Grocery on Congress Avenue.
The photo shows Scariano approaching a man after he pulled out a chair. Scariano said he asked the man if he was a customer, and that’s when Scariano said he became angry.
“He tried to spit on me, physically challenge me,” Scariano said.
The situation escalated when Scariano said he tried to get him to leave, which caused a small crowd to form and several people tried to pull the man off Scariano.
“He turned around, charged at me, headbutted me, then I tackled him and we took him down,” Scariano said.
Austin police responded and said George Martin Jr. was arrested and charged with simple assault resulting in injury and criminal trespass. Martin Jr. remains in the Travis County Jail.
Scariano said the alleged assault left him with injuries, but unfortunately, it was another crime to add to the long list of problems the store has faced.
Scariano and Craig Staley run seven Royal Blue Groceries stores in Downtown Austin. In July, KVUE interviewed Staley after a series of thefts by a repeat offender. Scariano said he and Staley have been working to highlight the problem and get help from the city.
“The solution is for us all to work together to achieve a common goal. [We’ve] “I’ve worked hard for this for years and this is just demoralizing,” Scariano said.
Scariano said he has reached out to Councilman Zo Qadri several times to discuss the issue. KVUE reached out to Qadri’s office on Wednesday but did not receive a response.
Scariano said all of his stores are “under attack” and what they are looking for is better security. Scariano said Austin police are helping as much as they can, but they don’t have the funds for a private security team.
The Downtown Austin Alliance has security ambassadors patrolling the area, but the ambassadors are there to provide security and are not a substitute for law enforcement. As such, they are not equipped to handle an incident like Scariano’s.
“It shouldn’t be as difficult as it is for us to run a business,” Scariano said. “We can’t afford the losses we’ve had across the company from store theft, staff turnover and violence that’s been taking place in our stores.”
Scariano said he will continue to ask for help from the city, so he can continue to serve the city of Austin.
“We’re not going to give up,” Scariano said. “We’re not going to sell and we love what we do. So, we’re going to survive as best we can and we need help.”
