Impatient Customer Assaults Clerk with Ice Cream Cone, Returns to Crime Scene

Police officers were called to a restaurant on Martin Luther King Jr. Way after a patron accosted an employee with a frozen dairy treat somewhere between the hours of 8:00 and 11:00 p.m. on Thursday, September 29.

According the police report, the altercation began simply enough: a man ordered an ice cream cone in the drive-through lane of what appears to be a McDonald’s, judging from the address. Business was booming, so the clerk asked the man to park in the lot to move the line along. In exchange for the inconvenience, the clerk offered to hand-deliver deliver the man’s ice cream cone. Some minutes later (the police report doesn’t specify how long), the man stormed into the restaurant, cursing the clerk as he “expressed his displeasure for having to wait so long.” The clerk offered to refund the man’s money “but this only angered him further.”

Meanwhile, in an attempt to diffuse the situation, another employee “hurriedly prepared a chocolate cone” and gave it to the angry man, the report states. But clearly didn’t work: the man only “cursed her more and then threw the cone at her, striking her on the left cheek.” The suspect then left the store without a refund or ice cream.

On Saturday, October 11 at 11:38 p.m., police receive another 911 call from the establishment after the suspect reappeared to place an order. Officers arrived in time to speak with the man, who “admitted to throwing the ice cream cone, but did not know it had struck [the clerk].” The report states further: “He offered to apologize. He also said he has an anger problem and he realizes now that he acted without thinking.” The officer on the scene did not take the man into custody but did advise him that “a report would be filed and charges may be filed by the City for assault.”