Wayne Farms stabbing victim files lawsuit

A man who was stabbed by a co-worker at a Wayne Farms plant in 2021 has filed a lawsuit, alleging the company did not subject the man charged in the incident to a proper application screening process.

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BCFC | Bigstockphoto.com
BCFC | Bigstockphoto.com

A man who was stabbed by a co-worker at a Wayne Farms plant in 2021 has filed a lawsuit, alleging the company did not subject the man charged in the incident to a proper application screening process.

Cedric Owens, was stabbed at the Wayne Farms plant in Decatur, Alabama, on January 7, 2021. He was taken to a nearby hospital with injuries that were described at the time as not life-threatening.

In his lawsuit, Owens’ attorneys point out that Detavious Sellers, the man arrested in the incident, had a prior arrest record for alleged violent and potentially deadly incidents, reported WAFF.

“Just prior to Wayne Farms hiring him, he shot someone in the face, the neck, the abdomen,” attorney Barnes Heyward told the news outlet. “That was information that should’ve been readily available.”

Heyward further said employers have an obligation to make sure employees feel safe in their work environments.

According to the report, the incident Heyward described happened only three months before Owens was stabbed, but assault charge that stemmed from that alleged incident was dismissed by a Morgan County Judge at the District Attorney’s request.

Sellers was charged with second-degree assault in the stabbing case.

About six months after Owens was stabbed, Wayne Farms merged with Sanderson Farms to form Wayne-Sanderson Farms, the third largest broiler producer in the United States. However, the lawsuit lists Wayne Farms LLC as the defendant.

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