Weird Health News: J.C. Penny Mannequin Assaults Department Store Shopper

Shopping Maul: Malicious Mannequin Assaults Department Store Shopper

Look, it ain't easy being a mannequin. You stand there all day long in the same pose. You are never even offered a cigarette or bathroom break. You lose significant portions of your anatomy on a regular basis and rather than replacing them, the department store you work for just throws a Pashmina shall over the mess and considers the problem solved. And, to top it all off, kids are constantly crawling under your skirts and pointing at your nether-regions.

It's the old story about the uprising of the oppressed. Sometimes, mannequins fight back.

Last month, Diana Newton, 51, of Westminster, California filed suit against the J.C. Penney Company, alleging that she was ambushed by a legless store mannequin. Apparently, when she decided that the blouse the disabled dummy was wearing would be a much better fit for her, the mannequin balked at once again being stripped naked in public and rose up against her, leaving Newton with a cracked molar and bleeding from the head.

The incident occurred just under a year ago in the department store chain's Westminster Mall location. As the department store sales clerk was attempting to wrestle the blouse from the dummy, Newton suddenly found herself being beaten viciously over the head by the mannequin's arm, which was no longer attached.

"I felt a burning sensation," said Newton, adding that blood then "cascaded" down her face. Paramedics treated her at the scene, and then, feeling "woozy but stable," Newton drove herself home. She later had herself taken to Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach for further treatment.

The end result? According to Newton and her lawyer, the mad mannequin assailant left her with scalp lacerations, a cracked molar which required a root canal, recurring shoulder pain, and numbness in the fingers.

And sometimes the deepest wounds are the ones you can't see. "'My mom got beat up by a mannequin' was the joke around my house," Newton bravely confessed to the Los Angeles Times.

Sadly, this case of inanimate retail rage is not an isolated incident. "There are a slew of lawsuits like this," mannequin manufacturer Barry Rosenberg told the Times. He went on to suggest that retail stores might find it prudent to run background checks on their dummies before allowing them access to the general public. Perhaps a registry is indicated?

The lawsuit has been filed in Orange County Superior Court. It seeks unspecified damages.

The mannequin in question could not be reached for comment.

Source: The Los Angeles Times