Employee Choked By Shoplifter in New Bedford Deli

NEW BEDFORD - A 29-year-old Fairhaven woman is arrested after assaulting an employee in a New Bedford deli.

Police say Brandi Lee Rezendes was trying to leave the Royal Seven Food and Deli on Summer Street Sunday morning without paying for an item. When an employee confronted her, police say Rezendes bumped him in the chest several times and placed one of her hands around his neck. The employee freed himself and called police.

Rezendes was arrested and is being arraigned on charges of strangulation or suffocation, assault and battery, and shoplifting. Nobody was injured during the incident.