Robber hit store clerk with Bible

Bond set at $50,000 for man suspected in attack

8/30/2013
BLADE STAFF

First, the robber hit the gas station clerk with a Bible.

Blow after blow from the Good Book was delivered to the Circle K clerk's face and head “in a boxing motion” while the employee was loading an ice cooler outside the store, according to a Toledo police report.

The Bible thumping man followed the clerk into the store at about 4:20 a.m. Wednesday and told the clerk to call police and the mayor before demanding cash, the report states.

The cash placed on the counter was, apparently, insufficient and the bandit demanded the clerk open the store's safe “or I will have something in my left hand to put you on the floor,” the police report states.

As police were enroute to the store at 2969 Tremainsville Rd., the robber broke a clock.

When police arrived, a man approached the door with his hands in the air.

“I've been running all night. You saw me like three times. Take me,” the man reportedly told officers.

The man then refused to put his hands behind his back to be handcuffed and said, “You can't take me, I'll take your gun,” and then ran around the store.

Officers cornered the man near a beer case, and the man picked up cans of brew and threw them at the officers, the report states.

One officer reported being struck in an arm, but uninjured.

Two officers tried, unsuccessfully, to use a Taser on the man, according to the police report.

Officers pinned the man against the front door where the man reportedly kicked and punched officers and then tried to bite another.

The man accused of hitting the clerk with the Bible and the ensuing tussle with police is Abbott Griffin, 57, of 2854 Eldorada Dr. He is charged with aggravated robbery and being held in the Lucas County jail in lieu of $50,000 bond.

Mr. Griffin was taken to Mercy St. Vincent Medical Center to be treated for minor injuries; he was booked into the jail Thursday and arraigned today.

The clerk was not injured, the police report said.