Starbucks baristas put up with quite a bit without complaining, all in the heated competition for your coffee-stained dollars. But no one making less than $10 an hour should have to suffer the pain and indignity of a piping hot cup of joe to the face.
But that is just what happened (Daily Herald), according to witnesses, shortly after a homeless McHenry County man walked into a Starbucks and demanded a cup of coffee and a roll. He received the coffee -- it's unclear whether or not he paid for it -- and then sat down but continued to "act as if he were agitated."
When a clerk came over to try to calm the man down, he allegedly threw the hot joe in her face, causing first- and second-degree burns. Two off-duty cops who happened to be present took the man down and held him until on-duty police were able to cuff and detain him.
The poor clerk was rushed to Centregra Hospital-McHenry by ambulance and treated for burns to her face and upper body. Since the man, 28-year-old Jonathan A. Pease, is unemployed and lives at a Woodstock homeless shelter, it's unlikely the burn victim would get much traction with a lawsuit (but could she successfully sue Starbucks?).
However, the criminal case should be rather solid, given the number of eyewitnesses (including two off-duty cops) and his record of prior arrests around Woodstock and Crystal Lake.
Pease, who was charged with two counts of aggravated battery and assault, is in custody at the McHenry County Jail on $51,000 bond. If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison for inflicting injuries that may last a lifetime.
- Assault and battery, explained (FindLaw)
- Basics of negligence (FindLaw)
- Directory of Chicago criminal defense attorneys (FindLaw)
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