A pair of Rent-A-Center workers that went into the home of a customer who had fallen behind on his payments allegedly kicked in a door that fell on the man’s younger daughter playing next to it, MyFoxCleveland.com reported.
Brad Baker and Matthew Hunt, both of which were arrested and later charged with aggravated burglary, went to the Canton, Ohio, home of Troy Cassie, who had rented a large-screen high-definition from the store in question, located just blocks away from where Cassie lives.
When the two were told that Cassie was at work and that there weren’t any adults on the premises, they allegedly kicked in the door of the house, which had been locked. Arianna Green, a 21-month-old toddler, was playing directly next to the door, and was hit severely in the head.
Green was treated at a nearby hospital and then released, the news station reported.
"The door came flying open and struck my little girl," Cassie told FOX 8 News. "I will never deal with [that store] again."
Cassie, who admitted to authorities that he was “a few weeks behind” on his payments, allegedly said that he would pay the store $120 after they notified him that he was in arrears. When the payment was not made the following evening, Baker and Hunt arranged the visit.
Rent-A-Center, which is a chain of rent-to-own stores offering furniture, electronics and computers, released a statement from its Plano, Texas corporate headquarters saying that both employees involved in the incident had been suspended, though both provided “quite different accounts of what happened.”
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