Trending
YOUNGSTOWN -- A Struthers woman is suing the temporary employment agency Corptemps of Niles, the Struthers company Astro Shapes, and Eddie Crook Jr., who assaulted her at the factory in July 2020.
Heather Wilkinson of Sexton Street filed the lawsuit in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court over an incident at the aluminum extrusion factory on Main Street in which Crook assaulted Wilkinson, causing her to hit her head on a piece of machinery and break her jaw in three places.
Crook, 29, was sentenced in May in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court to between 6.9 years and 8.4 years in prison and is now in the Toledo Correctional Institution.
The sentence was for the felonious assault of Wilkinson and a separate grand theft of $76,000 of medical services, according to Vindicator files.
At the time of the attack, Crook had just completed an eight-year prison sentence handed down in 2012 in Mahoning County for aggravated robbery with a gun. Crook, an Alabama native, returned to Youngstown after completing that prison sentence.
Struthers police said they were called to the plant in early July 2020, and saw that Wilkinson could not speak because of her injuries and had large amounts of blood covering her shirt, hands and face.
Witnesses said Wilkinson, then 33, was training Crook how to operate a piece of machinery. Crook was being "disrespectful" toward her, police said.
After Wilkinson corrected Crook multiple times, witnesses said, he punched her in the face, causing her to fall and hit her head on one of the machines. Crook left the scene before police arrived.
Kevin Trapp, assistant county prosecutor, said Crook "took offense for some reason" and punched her. In addition to the broken jaw, Wilkinson had "a large laceration" and needed several months of recuperation and rehabilitation, Trapp said.
ALLEGATIONS
The suit filed in July alleges that Corptemps failed to interview Crook and failed to check Crook's background and criminal history or was grossly negligent in doing an investigation of Crook prior to referring him to Astro Shapes for a temporary job there.
Corptemps denied that allegation in a response the company filed to the lawsuit.
As a result of the actions of the defendants, Wilkinson suffered severe physical and psychological injuries and has incurred substantial medical bills, the suit alleges. The suit seeks at least $25,000 in damages from Corptemps, Astro Shapes and Crook.
The suit, filed by attorney David Engler, alleges that Crook's actions were malicious and in reckless disregard for Wilkinson's rights and that Astro Shapes had a duty to investigate Crook's background before accepting him as a temporary employee.
Corptemps' response stated that it was Crook's actions that "caused any and all injuries and damages alleged." Corptemps' response also stated that Wilkinson failed to file the suit within the required period of time.
The Corptemps response denies many of the allegations in Wilkinson's suit but agrees that it offered Crook to Astro Shapes as a temporary employee. Corptemps stated that Wilkinson's injuries were "caused by an intervening or superseding act over which this defendant had no control."
An Astro Shapes filing in the case alleges that the Wilkinson lawsuit is barred by the statute of limitations and that the lawsuit is "barred by the Employer's Liability Immunity Statute of the Ohio Revised Code," "Fellow employee's Immunity Statute of the Ohio Revised Code" and the Ohio Constitution.
Astro Shapes' response agrees that Corptemps referred Crook to Astro Shapes as a temporary employee and that Crook caused Wilkinson to "sustain some injury, the extent of which is unknown, while both were working" at Astro Shapes.
The Astro Shapes' response agrees with the lawsuit's contention that Corptemps is "directly responsible" for Crook's assault of Wilkinson.
Astros Shapes also sued Corptemps and Crook over the incident in common pleas court, alleging Corptemps "represented that it conducted thorough background checks on all temporary employment candidates, which included checking the candidates' criminal history."
Corptemps, which filed a cross-claim against Crooks, denied Astro Shapes' allegation. That suit is pending before Judge John Durkin with a trial set for Jan. 4.
erunyan@vindy.com