Posted on 01/21/2005 6:45:17 AM PST by Cagey
A hulking Boston bodyguard was arrested yesterday, accused of hurling a scalding Starbucks coffee at a meter maid who slapped a ticket on his illegally parked Hummer in the Back Bay.
The alleged attack unfolded about 8:30 a.m. when Christi Noviello, 44, was walking her Berkeley and Boylston streets beat and saw the black Hummer parked in a loading zone with a woman in the passenger seat.
``I am a nice meter maid,'' Noviello told the Herald yesterday in an exclusive interview. ``As a courtesy, I gave the lady a chance to move, but she pointed at the Starbucks and refused.''
Noviello wrote a $55 ticket, and slid it under the Hummer's windshield wiper - apparently enraging its driver, Francois Youhanna.
``He started yelling, `I don't accept this ticket!' He had a Venti-sized cup of black coffee in his hand, and he flung it right in my face,'' said Noviello, just hours after she was treated for first- and second-degree burns on her face and upper torso at New England Medical Center.
``I went down, I was panicking. It hurt so bad, I thought my face was falling off,'' she said. ``It was in my eyes, I was screaming.''
Starbucks employees rushed out of the store with wet cloths to soothe the burns, as cops arrested Youhanna for assault and battery with a deadly weapon, the hot coffee, which is a felony.
Youhanna insistedhe spilled the coffee on Noviello by mistake after slipping on some ice and falling, a story his female companion echoed. But witnesses said Youhanna - who is 6-foot-2 and 200 pounds - charged at the meter maid and was very close to her face when the coffee was thrown.
He told cops he owned Gavilier Security Patrol, a bodyguard service that lists his West Roxbury home as the company's address. When a relative was reached at Youhanna's home, the man hung up when asked to comment on the incident.
Youhanna, a native of Lebanon, pleaded not guilty yesterday in Boston Municipal Court and was released on personal recognizance on condition he stay out of trouble and away from the meter maid. A pretrial conference date was set for Feb. 23.
Last year, 16 meter maids were physically assaulted and another 48 were threatened or harassed, said Tom Tinlin, deputy commissioner of the Boston Transportation Department.
``It's appalling. This behavior should not be tolerated in a civilized world,'' Tinlin said yesterday. ``Christi is one of the nicest people I know. For her to be subjected to such behavior while performing your job is a disgrace.''
Venti sized. Only a true snob would know what that means.
Good headline! That guy is definitely a half-wit, Hummer or not.
He's going to discover that assaulting a meter maid is not a good idea. Even though they aren't real cops, for the most part, they get support from the boys in blue (along with a little friendly other interest).
Bad move on the guy's part, to say the least.
I don't have a thing against a good Hummer.
Mall Guard who thinks he's a real cop, gets a little ego attack and he assaults a 44 year old woman with scalding coffee.. hope he rots in jail jackass.
HUMMMMMMMMMM, hot coffee............lawyer......?
This guy apparently missed the part where it says this puke is from Lebanon.
"Venti sized. "
I never go to Starbucks, but I'm aware that they use Italian words to describe their drinks. Since Venti means 20 in Italian, I'm assuming that it means a 20 oz. cup, right?
I'm not a snob.
WTF is a venti? Sounds like a small animal.
I don't accept this arrest! I refuse to be sentenced! I will not go to jail! I won't eat this jail food! I won't go to solitary! I refuse to walk to the gurney for my death sentence! I will not die!
"WTF is a venti?"
I think it's the size of the cup. Venti is 20 in Italian, and Starbucks uses Italian names for its drinks.
john kerry's bodyguard?
StarBuckSpeakTM.
Maybe Michael Moore's.
Don't you love it when you try to order coffee from 'em and they sneer at you 'cause you don't know their term for extra large?
Venti sized? What the hell is wrong with small, medium and large? When I go to starbucks I refuse to use their snootty coffee lingo. It always throws them off.
Only a meter maid in Boston would know the peculiar sizing methods of Starbucks coffee. I assume she wouldn't have been as upset, if the coffee had some steamed milk and chocolate shavings on top.
Starbucks employees rushed out of the store with wet cloths to soothe the burns...
I didn't know that first aid was taught in liberal arts programs.
...as cops arrested Youhanna for assault and battery with a deadly weapon, the hot coffee, which is a felony.
How exactly is coffee a deadly weapon or a felony (looks like those egg heads in Mass may need to learn how to write)? A little overreaching by the police here.
Bet this jerk felt justified in his own mind. How dare an infidel, and a woman, dare challenge him. He probably thought he did the right thing by trying to put her in her place. Perhaps it should be a Religion of Peace hate crime.
He started yelling "I get knocked down, But I get up again. You're never going to keep me down"
Hold my double-whip latte and watch this....
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