Librarian attacked
HOUSTON—A librarian at a Houston Public Library is recovering after being attacked by an angry patron, according to Houston police.
“This is a relatively quiet library as libraries go,” says spokesperson Sandra Fernandez. “It’s a very well used library.”
That all changed Wednesday, December 16.
“We had a customer who physically attacked one of our librarians,” says Fernandez.
The attacked happened around noon at the Robinson-Westchase Branch on Wilcrest near Richmond.
Officers say 23-year-old Nigel Mandela Harper was acting unruly so the librarian asked him to be quiet and gave him a warning.
“He just started singing loud, singing rap songs and cursing,” says a witness who did not wish to be identified. “And the librarian just walked over to him, and she asked him not to be so disruptive, that he couldn’t use that kind of language in the library. And he said, ‘Okay.’”
Officers say Harper got louder so the librarian asked him to leave. Instead, he punched the woman, threw her to the ground and stomped on her, according to the witness.
“He hit her in the face, and when she buckled under holding her face, he struck her again and knocked her down. He just started stomping her,” she says.
Other patrons had to pull Harper off the librarian, who is in her 50s.
“There were about six guys, and they just football rushed him,” the witness says. “They tackled him and held him down until police arrived.
Harper was arrested and charged with assault with bodily injury. He is being held in the Harris County jail and his bond has been set at $7,500. Harper has a long rap sheet including three previous assault charges and theft.
The librarian is recovering at her home, her physical wounds perhaps not as severe as the emotional ones.
