Woman seriously injured after pranksters put cart on flagpole

A shopping cart hoisted atop a Pasadena Ralphs supermarket flagpole by pranksters fell and broke a woman’s neck.

“The cart fell on [her] when she untied the rope to raise the flag, something she did every day when she went to work,” Police Lt. Lisa Perrine said Tuesday.

Someone apparently raised the cart aloft during the night. Perrine did not know how much the shopping cart weighed or how it was attached to the pole.

Shantie Marjal, 62, of Eagle Rock has been hospitalized in serious condition since the Saturday morning incident outside the Ralphs on West Colorado Boulevard.

“The cart broke Ms. Marjal’s neck and caused serious head trauma,” the lieutenant said, adding that the victim was not paralyzed. She said police were asking the public for help identifying those involved.

Police Chief Bernard Melekian on Tuesday urged the prankster to come forward.

“There is someone who knows who did this, and we want to talk with them. This prank could have been deadly,” the police chief said. “As it is, it has ruined a woman’s life as she knows it and will have innumerable negative impacts on her family and livelihood.”