Grocery store worker accused of attacking Rudy Giuliani has been ‘suspended pending termination’

The ShopRite grocery store worker who has been accused of attacking former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani has been “suspended pending termination,” Wakefern Food Corporation, ShopRite’s parent company, told Insider on Monday. 

Daniel Gill, 39, a store associate at a ShopRite in Staten Island, New York, was arrested on a charge of assault in the second degree in connection to the Sunday afternoon incident involving Giuliani at the grocery store, according to the New York City Police Department. 

Giuliani was at the ShopRite campaigning for his son Andrew, a Republican candidate for New York governor, when Giuliani said the worker whacked him on his back. 

“I got hit on the back as if a boulder hit me,” Giuliani said in a Monday morning video posted on his Facebook page. “It knocked me forward a step or two. It didn’t knock me down, but it hurt tremendously.”

Giuliani, a 78-year-old Republican, said the man who struck him shouted “dirty curse words” at him and called him a “woman killer” whose “party kills women.”

Video footage captured the incident, which shows a man slapping Giuliani on the back before walking away. 

The NYPD told Insider that Gill slapped Giuliani on the mid-back while stating, “What’s up, scumbag?” 

Giuliani said the incident could have resulted in him falling, cracking his skull and dying. 

“I mean, suppose I was a weaker 78-year-old and I hit the ground, cracked my skull, and died,” said Giuliani, who was former President Donald Trump’s personal attorney.

In a statement to Insider, Wakefern Food Corporation said, “We are aware that an incident instigated by a store associate involving former Mayor Rudy Giuliani took place at our store on Staten Island on Sunday. Store security observed the incident, reacted swiftly and the police were notified.”

The company added, “We have zero tolerance for aggression toward anyone.”

The suspect, who has worked at the Staten Island ShopRite since 2017, was “suspended pending termination,” according to the company. 

It was not immediately clear whether Gill had retained an attorney. He was scheduled to be arraigned later Monday. 

Gill, a Staten Island resident, was taken into custody and Giuliani refused medical attention at the scene, the NYPD said. 

Gill has no other prior arrests on his record, the NYPD told Insider.