Man Attacks Clerk With a Butter Knife

A Laguna Hills supermarket clerk escaped serious injury Wednesday when he was stabbed by a would-be thief wielding a butter knife, sheriff’s deputies said.

The assailant walked into a Ralphs in the 25500 block of Paseo de Valencia at 10:24 a.m., gathered some groceries and started to push his cart out of the store when the clerk intervened, said Lt. Dave Wilson of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.

The clerk suffered a superficial wound when the man stabbed him once in the chest with a butter knife. He was treated at Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center in Mission Viejo. The assailant, who fled in a waiting car, was described as being in his 20s and wearing sheepskin boots and a black leather jacket. Several men were inside the car.

Investigators said the incident was not related to the recently settled grocery store labor dispute.