UPDATED 1:52PM | Suspect Ruth was expected to be charged today with two felonies, including one count each of assault by means likely to produce great bodily injury and mayhem, according to the District Attorney’s Office.

ORIGINAL 9:38AM | A 35-year-old Long Beach man was arrested Wednesday for punching a gas station clerk in Lakewood last month during a dispute over the price of a cigar. 

clerkpunchsuspectAfter pushing surveillance footage of the incident to media outlets and following leads about the assailant, investigators found and arrested Kendrick Ruth at a motel near Long Beach and Artesia boulevards.

According to Capt. Merril Ladenheim of the L.A. County Sheriff’s Lakewood Station, the clerk working at the Chevron station at 4910 Lakewood Blvd. was assaulted Sept. 7 when she refused to sell Ruth a $1.41 Swisher Sweet because he would not pay 41 cents on top of the dollar he had given her.

Ruth allegedly argued with the 23-year-old female clerk over the price and tried to grab the cigar out of her hands, but she put it away under the counter and told him to leave.

He then punched her from across the counter, leaving permanent damage to her eye. Ruth immediately fled the scene.

Ruth was booked for attempted robbery and assault at the Los Angeles County Men’s Central Jail. His bail has been set at $100,000 and is scheduled to be arraigned Oct. 4 at the Bellflower Courthouse.

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