Woman Sues Whole Foods, Claims Security Guard Punched Her

EAST VILLAGE, NY — East Village musician Tessa Lena claims a Whole Foods security guard punched her while she was shopping at the E. Houston Street grocery store.

The Moscow-born singer says the guard at the grocery store "confronted her and tackled her in an aggressive and threatening manner" in April 2017, then punched her in a second incident, a lawsuit alleges.

She had coincidentally, the suit claims, purchased a beverage at the Columbus Circle location of the chain earlier that day. When she left the store with her E. Houston purchases and holding a Whole Foods container, a guard tackled her, according to the complaint.

The security guard, of the private company Elite Security Personnel, was wearing a "grungy t-shirt and had the overall appearance not of a security personnel, but of an agitated and disheveled 'regular person,'" the complaint says, which is why Lena did not realize the woman was a security guard who thought she had shoplifted.

"I thought I was being robbed," Lena said. "I screamed."

"That was extremely degrading," she said, calling it a "militarized" shopping experience.

Months later, on Aug. 3, 2018, she saw the guard at the Whole Foods again. Lena approached her for an attempt at closure on a "human level," she said.

"I tried to talk to her, but it did not go over well at all," she said. "I saw this woman working like nothing happened, and frankly I come from a culture where things are figured out in a human way."

Lena alleges the guard punched her in the chest when she approached her. According to the complaint, a doctor prescribed her muscle relaxants after the incident.

Lena filmed part of the incident in a video published in the Daily News, which first reported on the suit.

She's seeking $10 million in damages.

Now, the Whole Foods E. Houston location has an NYPD officer as a security measure through the department's paid detail unit, the NYPD confirmed.

It is unclear whether the change-up is a result of Lena's lawsuit and Whole Foods did not respond to requests for comment. Elite also did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Bowery Boogie first noticed the paid off-duty officers' on-site.

"I just wanted to make things right, but that clearly didn't work," said the musician.

The East Village artist says she didn't want to take it to this level — but felt like she had no choice since the store didn't respond to her complaints before the suit.

"I hate lawsuits," the self-described "peace freak" said.

She's a Trader Joe's regular now. "I have to say that I miss my friends at Whole Foods," she said. "It's just strange dealing with this corporate monster."

"It's almost like standing up to the entire corporate, predatory thing," she said. "It's very unfortunate that I have to speak the language of lawsuits because it's not my favorite medium at all."

"It sucks that it had to be this way, frankly."

Lead image credit: Sydney Pereira Image caption: Whole Foods at 95 E. Houston St.

Second image credit: David Dyte Image caption: Musician Tessa Lena