Posted on 12/23/2004 11:39:23 AM PST by marshmallow
The Christmas spirit turned sour yesterday when two parents fought over seats to watch their children perform at a holiday pageant inside a packed Great Kills pre-school auditorium.
Venus Guerrieri, 59, and her son, Charles H. Balducci, 29, both of East Augusta Avenue, Great Kills, were arrested on the grounds of St. Clare's parish and charged with third-degree assault, a misdemeanor.
According to police sources, Mrs. Guerrieri and Balducci had attacked a woman who said the duo -- along with Balducci's wife, Sabrina, and their 1-year-old son -- were sitting in seats she had claimed at the pageant in St. Clare's Pre-School, located on Nelson Avenue.
The show went on after the incident.
The victim, whose full name was officially withheld by police, was treated at Staten Island University Hospital, Prince's Bay, for minor injuries and released, officials said.
Her husband is a retired police officer.
"My neck, face, hair -- my whole body hurts," said the woman, who identified herself only as Cathy, speaking with the Advance at her Tompkinsville home last night. She'd gone to the event to see her 3-year-old daughter perform, she said.
At about 11:45 a.m., Cathy said, she left her purse with another parent to mark off three seats for her family to watch the show.
The seats, folding chairs, were apparently located in the second row from where the performance would take place in the school's lower-level auditorium.
Cathy said she went to check on the whereabouts of her husband, Rob, who was parking the car. With him were her mother and her other daughter, who is 1.
DISPUTE ERUPTS
Upon her return, Cathy said, she found her purse moved and Balducci placing his jacket over her seats. "I said to him, 'Excuse me, I'm sitting here and those are my seats,'" she said.
It's here where Balducci's account differs.
He said that he had been in the seats for about 15 minutes, saving them for members of his family, when Cathy approached him and got "up in [his] face with her hands."
"She called me a piece of [expletive]," Balducci told the Advance by telephone.
Cathy counters that it was Balducci who used profanity.
"I told him there was no need for this at my daughter's pageant," she said.
Balducci claimed that as his mother, Mrs. Guerrieri, handed his daughter off to his wife, Cathy swung at her.
The two women got into a "catfight," according to Balducci, pulling each other's hair.
Cathy disputed that, saying Mrs. Guerrieri kept bumping into her, almost causing her to fall.
All the while, she said, Balducci was acting menacingly, threatening her with violence.
She revealed two large areas on either side of her rear scalp where chunks of hair were missing, injuries she said were caused by Mrs. Guerrieri and Balducci, who also allegedly jumped on top of her.
She alleged that Balducci also punched her in her left forehead, and then slammed the right side of her face onto a table.
Balducci stated that he only tried to break up the fight and never hit Cathy.
He further said that it was actually Cathy who hit his mother, a woman he called a "senior citizen," and that he'll be taking her to be medically examined today.
"I was a little bit surprised her husband didn't step forward to break up the fight as quickly as I did," Balducci said. "I was even more surprised it became a matter that had to go into the hands of the police instead of us talking it out."
POLICE INTERVENE
Cathy's husband, Rob, said that calling the authorities was the proper thing to do.
"I just got beat up! I just got beat up!" Rob said his wife yelled, as she ran toward him in the parking lot.
He and others called 911, he said.
"If I did to him what he did to my wife, it would put me at his level," said Rob, visibly angry over his wife's injuries.
Balducci and Mrs. Guerrieri were placed under arrest by police officers from the Mid-Island's 122nd Precinct at 1:17 p.m. They are to appear in court at a later date.
Balducci said the police response was elicited because Cathy's husband is a former member of the service.
Rob, however, said the authorities were notified because of the extent of his wife's injuries.
Cathy said she was told at the hospital that she will need to see a hair specialist.
MTV SHOW
Balducci demonstrated similar violent tendencies during a 2002 MTV program, focusing on people preparing to marry, Rob said. On the episode, Balducci launched into a profanity-laced tirade aimed at the limousine driver who was late picking him up for the wedding.
Balducci acknowledged being on the show, but said he was only acting according to the producer's request.
"He is trying to attack the fact that I've been on television," said Balducci, referring to the former cop.
Meanwhile, Cathy's husband is asking anyone with videotape of the incident to come forward.
Rob is also asking that the school not allow Balducci to return for functions, nor allow his son to remain enrolled.
"The victims are the kids," said Balducci, noting that he is member of the school's fund-raising board and has personally given numerous donations.
"It rips my heart out of my chest that I missed seeing my son say the Pledge of Allegiance," he said.
Cathy and Rob said they plan to file an order of protection against the Balduccis and Mrs. Guerrieri.
Balducci said that if a lawsuit is pursued, he will countersue for damages.
You don't have kids do you...? LOL
I do. I also have been a Scouter for the last 12 years. And I can tell you that the kids whose parents make sure that they are never dissapointed and who are allowed to think that there is something seriously wrong if they don't get the latest/greatest thing they want are usually the snottiest little punks out there. And they react very badly when they are put in an environment where they get told "No" and where they are disciplined if they don't take "No" for an answer.
Dude, lighten up it was a joke.
I apologize for being too heavy-handed. It's just that I've faced too many instances where kids who have been taught by example all their lives that they are the center of the universe have knowingly but uncaringly put other people in jeopardy for their own convenience.
"My neck, face, hair -- my whole body hurts," said the woman,..."
Another reason I'm glad I'm bald.
No way I would leave my purse on a seat and leave the area.
I plan to do all my Christmas shopping online for next year God willing. I will make my purchases off and on throughout the year. Saves money, saves time, saves anxiety and then youu can go to the stores and downtown and just enjoy the decorations.
Exactly. All of a suddent they go out into the big bad world and find out they are not the do all and be all after all. There are others out there to be considered. Too bad parents don't realize that and raise their kids accordingly. Must be awfully tough to hear the word no or to take rejection for the first time in your life as an adult. Should prepare kids for disappointment from the beginning. Maybe they would be nicer adults.
Any putz who claims to have ''connections'' usually doesn't. Those that HAVE don't need to make an announcement.
If it was a rap show, they would get shot,
If it was a game of hoops, chairs and beer would rain down:)
Merry Christmas! And everybody just behave yourselves:)
Oh, jeez. Upitiy metro-sexual. Seems fond of himself.
Huh?
I think the truth is that her husband let her out at the door so that she could run in and put her junk on a few seats. Then, she went back outside to help hubby carry the kid inside. I would have been inclined to take "her" seats as well.
I was on a thread about people who will drive around the shopping centers looking for slots up close to the store.
Once my hubby jokingly(i'm sure) said to me, 'Honey, you wouldn't mind laying down in that spot and saving it till I get the car and come back, would you'?
I told him, 'how about you lay down and I go get the car'? Parking slots are serious issues to some people.
Is that a slur directed at people with Italian last names?
What's the difference whether they're sitting in the seats of if they saved the seats to return from the restroom (or wherever) in a few minutes. The bottom line, despite your irrational feelings about it, is that they got their first and claimed those seats. If you wanted those seats maybe you should have arrived earlier and claimed them first.
Or maybe you want some government program enforcing seating equality in which everyone gets a randomly assigned seat except for minorities, women, the handicapped, etc.
Might makes right. I guess you're with this Balducci thug...
I remember that show. He's nuts. His old lady probably has skin cancer by now with that crispy peeling tan.
Unfortunately he acted like a real greaseball on TV and didn't help matters any in terms of stereotypes. Sometimes I'm glad I have an english last name.
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