WREG.com

Man Attacked by Teens at Poplar Plaza

(Memphis) There were two brawls in two days at Poplar Plaza.

A lot of people are headed to the new Kroger at Poplar and Highland but some say teenagers are taking over and causing trouble.

Saturday, police say a grocery shopper was jumped by a large group of teens in the parking lot and it was the second attack in two days.

Walter Thomas says he was just trying to do a little grocery shopping around 8:30 p.m. Saturday night but instead he was attacked by a group of teenagers.

“Before I even got in there was when I was attacked,” he said.  “I got three lumps on the right side of my head.”

Before he even parked his car at Kroger, Thomas says he ran into trouble, “I was just trying to get past them and drive down the lane.”

Thomas says a large group teenagers, blocking access to parking, didn’t like it when he honked at them,  “That’s when they started throwing stuff at my car.”

He says the group of about 20 teens threw a drink and then an orange cone at his car and when Thomas got out, the group circled him, “They ganged-up on me and started wailing on me.”

He says other shoppers came to his rescue, getting the teens off of him.

The group scattered but police say none of the teens were arrested.

This attack was the second incident in two days at Poplar Plaza.

News Channel 3 confirmed the night before Thomas was attacked there was a large group of teenagers involved in a brawl outside CiCi’s Pizza at same shopping complex.

“The manager at Kroger said there was like 10 cop cars at that event too,” said Thomas.

Thomas is not sure what can be done but says a police presence at Poplar Plaza might help as well as people looking out and reporting loitering or rowdy groups of teenagers, “The Kroger manager said I probably should have called the cops when I noticed this group was here.”

Some business owners in Poplar Plaza say they believe the landlord should get security that is allowed to carry weapons and enforce the law.