Connecticut man held following racist rant, throws smoothie at young female store employee (Video)
(Robeks Smoothies, Image credit: Google Maps)
On January 22 at approximately 2:26 p.m., Connecticut’s Fairfield Police Department received numerous calls from employees at the Robeks Juice and Smoothie Shop located at 2061 Black Rock Turnpike, reporting a customer was throwing things, yelling at employees, and refusing to leave.
An investigation revealed that at approximately 1:05 p.m., a 48-year-old Merrill Lynch Financial Advisor identified as James Iannazzo of Fairfield, made a purchase at Robeks and then left the store without incident.
At approximately 1:39 p.m., Iannazzo called 911 requesting an EMS response to his home for a juvenile suffering from an allergic reaction and was later transported to an area hospital.
A short time later, Iannazzo returned to Robeks and confronted employees, yelling at them and demanding to know who had made the smoothie which contained peanuts, causing his child’s allergic reaction. When employees could not provide Iannazzo with the answer, he became irate, yelling at the employees while using a number of expletives. Iannazzo also made comments toward an employee referencing their immigration status.
There is video from the incident showing Iannazzo yelling at the female before eventually throwing a drink at her, according to MSN. The audio portion from that video can be heard very clearly
According to Heavy, the Video depicts Jim Iannazzo telling the teen employees at Robeks that “they’re stupid F***** ignorant high school kids,” telling one female employee that she’s a “F***** immigrant loser.”’
The drink he threw hit the young girl in her right shoulder. Alarmed, you can hear her scream out on the video. The employee reported to police that she had no complaints of pain or injury.
Iannazzo was told to leave multiple times by the employees but remained inside and continued to yell insults at the employees. Iannazzo then attempted to open a locked door that led to an “Employees Only” area where the employees were, behind the counter.
Iannazzo left the scene prior to police arrival but was identified shortly after. Iannazzo turned himself into police without incident. He told Officers that he was upset about his son having a severe allergic reaction and he went back to the store as a result.
High school student Charli Hill, a Robeks worker, told CBS Hartford affilitate WFSB-TV she took a video of the incident. It went viral.
“He started to call her racial slurs. He threatened to kill us multiple times,” Hill said. “I understand and we are sorry on behalf of Robeks for how the smoothie was made, but it gives you absolutely no right to act out like that.”
Gianna Miranda said she was the teen who was hit by the smoothie.
“It was kind of scary, I’m not going to lie because I’m like ‘I don’t know his intention or what he was going to do,'” Miranda said.
See the video on Facebook
During the investigation, employees reported that Iannazzo never told them about the peanut allergy but had only requested that there be no peanut butter in his drink.
After the video went viral, Merrill Lynch, where Iannazzo had worked as a financial advisor, fired him. “Our company does not tolerate behavior of this kind,” a statement from the company reads. “We immediately investigated and have taken action. This individual is no longer employed at our firm.” ~ People
Iannazzo was arrested and charged with Intimidation Based on Bigotry or Bias in the Second Degree, Breach of Peace in the Second Degree and Criminal Trespass in the First Degree. He was issued a court appearance date of February 7 at Bridgeport Superior Court.
Between Iannazzo cussing and yelling and trying to get through a locked door to get to the employee’s section of the shop, and the young female employee standing up for herself and her co-workers and giving back as good as she got, the video is actually quite scary. Check out the video below.
(James Iannazzo Mugshot / Source: Fairfield Police Department)
~ Posted by Richard Webster, Ace News Today / Connect with Richard on Facebook and Twitter
