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.''
Starbucks is stupid for using "venti" to describe the size of a drink.
The Boston police are stupid for calling coffee a "deadly weapon".
This Lebanese asshole is stupid for throwing coffee at a public employee.
I tend to think that meter maids, in general, are stupid because I just don't like parking tickets, but I do feel sorry for this lady who received serious burns from some uncivilized asshole for simply doing her job.
Just make sure you bring some change for the meter. You just never know.
Felony aggravated assault, yes. Deadly weapon, no.
I tell Starbuckers I have the one inbetween or I mumble.
What kinda of bodyguard isn't carring a Uzi anyway?
"A person can experience heart trauma from extreme hot or cold changes,"
Would that make a cup of ice water a deadly weapon?
Yes, it could scald lungs if inhaled.
I don't think this "looks silly at all". I understand the dangers of hot liquids.
It's the "deady weapon" label .......
Sounds like Francois is related to "Do you know who I am" Ketchup Boy Kerry!! That meter maid is lucky -- he could have slit her throat (being from the Middle East and all).
My point is that it isn't unreasonable, though of course I don't really expect the charge to stick. As with all police assaults by the civilians, they always try to prosecute as high up the punitive ladder as they can. In this case, I think this idiot should have to sweat it, and a charge of assault with a deadly weapon oughta do the trick.
Okay, that quip nearly sent some hot, non-Starbucks coffee through my sinus passages. :-) LOL!
This French-Lebanese Hummer-driving yuppie jerk needs to pay dearly for that stunt. Having said that, I also believe that it should be legal to use paintball guns to "hunt" meter attendants. Seems only fair. ;^)
See post # 60.
I really don't care if the guy is cut a break or not but this seems to be the kind of crime where the cops over reach on the charges b/c the guy is a Starbucks frequenting, Hummer driving, yuppie but then thse same cops watch 40 drug deals go down without making an arrest.
Talk about snobbery...only a true elitest could read this post and find that this was the only comment he/she could make.
So are all the Starbuck drinkers out there "true snobs? Or just the meater maids?
Are they snobs because you don't partake? Or because you don't know what venti means? Or just because you said so?
"Reaching a bit here aren't we. For you all you know the guy could be a Christian, Jew or any other religion outside of being a Muslim.
But then people who are from other religions are never violent are they? (sarcasm)"
You make a good point, and then you mess up by obfuscating with a weak point. Sure, people can be violent. But I have don't think it's common practice in Buddism, Christianity, Judaism, Shinto, Hindu, etc. to teach that there are great rewards for killing yourself in the act of killing just 1 member of another religion. And I believe islam is most militant about trying to be the ONLY religion wherever it exists.
Venti...well, coffee is made from beans...
Why not just say "large"? :P
"Venti sized"
My thoughts exactly. And the word snob is apropos. Not someone high class, but someone with pretentions to high class, without knowing what class is. When I go to Starbucks, which is not often, I refuse to use their precious terminology, and just order a medium, no matter how confusing it is to the counter help -- and it doesn't take much to confuse them.
Whoa wtf? Don't take my comment so personally dear.
AND I wasn't calling the meter maid a snob.
But guess you didn't read the whole thing.
Okay, now go find the guy that pissed you off.
I guess it's me. See one of my first posts on this thread.
We got a sensitive person here, everyone...TREAD LIGHTLY!
I don't think that going after this clown hard is overeaching. We want to discourage this type of behavior. I am sure that ultimately, the charges will be reduced, but this jerk doesn't need to know that. Most of the police officers that I know do a fine job, and I think that your comment about them watching 40 drug deals go down without making an arrest is pretty broad.
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