Police arrested a man accused of attacking a librarian and breaking her back while robbing a library in Darby Borough, Pennsylvania.
Terrell Carter, 40, was taken into custody Tuesday.
Carter, who is homeless, entered the Darby Free Library back on July 12 and snatched a donation jar, police said. Librarian Joyce Anderson Taylor, 60, had just arrived at the library with her 6-year-old great grandson.
Carter allegedly grabbed Taylor, threw her down several steps and trampled her, fracturing her back and lower body in five places.
“He was determined,” Taylor said. "He was getting out with that jug one way or another."
Taylor said her great grandson witnessed the attack.
“That was traumatizing to him because this is a place he loves to come to,” she said. “It was just unfortunate.”
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Taylor was hospitalized for two weeks after the attack. She was released from the hospital on July 25, a day after undergoing back surgery.
Taylor said she had seen Carter at the library before but had never had any problems with him prior to July 12.
“I think I was just at the right place at the wrong time,” she said. “I was a distraction to him.”
Investigators received several leads from the public that helped them find Carter, according to Darby Borough Police Chief Robert Smythe.
"People that hurt seniors or children are just bad people," Smythe said. "And this guy was a bad person and he needed to be off the street before someone was seriously injured."
