Girl claims injuries from price scanner

ERIE, Pa. -- An Erie County jury has been asked to decide whether a 12-year-old girl was burned and later developed psychological problems when a convenience store clerk allegedly aimed a hand-held price scanner at her face.

Dominica Juliano was 12 when she and her grandmother entered the Country Fair store in Erie in June 2004.

A clerk allegedly called the girl "grumpy" before flashing his hand-held bar code scanner over her face and telling her to smile.

Attorneys for Ms. Juliano and her guardian say the girl was sensitive to light and burned, and later developed post-traumatic stress and Tourette's syndrome.

An attorney for the store says the scanner uses a harmless LED light and that the child had serious health problems before the incident. The trial began Monday.

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First published on April 13, 2010 at 11:58 am