Sheriff arrests man accused in attack on 80-year-old woman in grocery store

CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. — A man accused in the grocery store attack of an 80-year-old woman and her 60-year-old daughter has been arrested, authorities say.

Joseph Kenneth Arnold surrendered to the Clayton County Sheriff’s Department Tuesday after he was identified by Forest Park Police.

Earlier in February, Channel 2 Action News received surveillance video that authorities showed Arnold punching a 60-year-old woman in the face and then grabbing her 80-year-old mother by her hair and throwing her off her motorized scooter. He ripped out some of her hair.

“He got right up in my face and I kind of (threw) my arm like, ‘Get back off me,’ and when I did that, he balled his fist up and swung and hit me in the temple,” the victim said.

“He slammed me so hard on that floor and you know, the floor is concrete. It just happened so fast,” her mother said.

The women say their attacker was upset because he didn’t realize they were together, and he thought the mother on the scooter was trying to cut in front of him in the line.

Clayton County Sheriff Victor Hill said he was so upset by the video that he offered $2,500 of his own money to help locate the suspect. He said he will now use that money to take the Forest Park Police Department out for a “celebratory dinner.”

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