NYC bodega worker describes vicious hammer attack that left her blacked out, battered: ‘I’m afraid now’
A Bronx bodega worker was bashed in the head with a “sledgehammer” in a fight over a hookah — leaving her so battered that she’s ashamed to let her children see her, she told The Post.
Oralia Perez, 41, was working at A&D Deli Grocery on East 188th Street in Fordham Heights around 10:08 a.m. Saturday when a man and woman came in and demanded a refund for a $30 hookah, according to the victim and police.
She recognized the couple as the same pair who allegedly stole $40 worth of items from the bodega two days earlier, Perez told The Post Tuesday morning.
“They came up to me and told me they wanted their money back. It was a couple. I told them, ‘How could you want your money back if you stole all those things?’” Perez recalled.
“I told them not to take any more things. I told them, ‘Don’t do this again.’ They started grabbing me and then I was on the floor.”
Perez was attacked from behind with a hammer, United Bodegas of America spokesperson Fernando Mateo said at a press conference Monday.
She blacked out and when she came to, Perez told The Post, “People were screaming and calling 911.”
“I thought I had fallen because I don’t remember anything. But they told me they hit me,” she said.
Graphic photos show Perez in St. Barnabas Hospital with deep cuts across her face, including a severe gash that caused her left eye to swell completely closed.
“I needed 20 stitches, my eye is fractured,” she explained, noting that her condition is still “a little delicate.”
Perez, who is originally from Mexico, has also undergone five CT scans and one MRI, the UBA said.
The mom of three has not allowed her 16-, 14- and 1-year-old children to visit her in the hospital.
“I don’t want them to see me like this,” she told The Post.
“I’m afraid now. I don’t know,” she added when asked about possibly returning to work.
Photos from the scene also show the hammer abandoned on the floor of the bodega, as well as gruesome blood spatter from the attack.
“I spoke to Oralia as she explained this was an unprovoked attack,” Mateo said at the Monday night press conference.
“She’s in a lot of pain … She didn’t deserve what happened to her.”
Mateo and Mayor Eric Adams visited Perez and her children at their Bronx home Tuesday following her release from the hospital. Adams posed for photos with her teens as he checked on the badly battered mom.
Meanwhile, the man and woman suspects — who have not been identified — fled and are still at large, according to police.
The pair also made off with three containers of Top Ramen noodle soup, valued at $2, authorities said.
The police report did not mention the alleged scuffle over the hookah return.
The owners of the bodega are also concerned that the suspects may return and wreak more havoc, the union said.
The attack on Perez was the fourth violent incident involving a bodega worker in just one week, the UBA noted.
Several hours after Perez was injured, a customer at a Queens convenience store was fatally stabbed.
In May, Gov. Kathy Hochul passed new protections aimed at helping frontline retail workers and small-business owners combat theft — including a $5 million tax credit for added security measures.
The union, however, said that lip service was not enough.
“Once again we are asking for technology that can stop these attacks before someone else is killed,” Mateo said.
“UBA cannot continue to meet & meet & meet with Pols, we need action not words. We are hoping for the Federal Government to get involved and help us with funding Safe Haven Bodegas for the communities we serve,” UBA president Radahmes Rodriguez added.
“We appreciate the Governor’s intentions but now we need action before someone else dies. Where is the 5 million the Governor promised, it could be saving lives today not tomorrow.”
US Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY), who represents the area where the attack took place, did not immediately return The Post’s request for a comment on the incident.
