HOUSTON – A Walmart employee has been accused of intentionally running over a customer.
Lance Jason Ferguson, 33, has been charged with aggravated assault.
Houston police said a customer looked at DVDs and video games at a Walmart store in the 9500 block of Rowlett in southeast Houston on July 10.
Dominique Mason, a high school senior, said he was about to walk out of the store with them without paying, but then he had a change of heart.
"I went back and put them in the Walmart seat just because it was wrong for stealing," Mason said.
Mason said he then walked out of the store and Ferguson, a store employee, followed him.
Mason began walking home. As he was in the parking lot of a business in the 11500 block of the Gulf Freeway, he heard a car come up behind him and was then hit, police said. He rolled on top of the hood and then fell to the ground, detectives said.
Investigators said the customer told them that Ferguson got out of the car, told him never to return to the Walmart and walked closer to him as if he was going to hit him. Ferguson then left and the customer walked home, officials said.
When Mason got home, his mother took him to a hospital to be treated for injuries to his back.
Police said they talked to Ferguson and he admitted to the confrontation inside the store. He denied leaving the store and denied driving to work that day, investigators said.
Detectives said surveillance video from the store showed Ferguson leave the store and leave the parking lot in a vehicle similar to the one the customer described being hit by. The video also showed Ferguson return the store within 10 minutes of leaving, police said.
Mason said he considers the incident to be a wake-up call.
"Changed a little but how life is, how much meaning we have -- how much meaning I have," he said.
Ferguson is no longer employed by Walmart. He's in the Harris County Jail with bond set at $30,000.