A Dunkin’ employee in Tampa, Florida, accused of fatally punching a customer who used a racial slur against him last year, was sentenced to two years of house arrest after pleading guilty to felony battery.
Corey Pujols, 27, was ordered by a Tampa judge on Monday to complete 200 hours of community service and attend an anger management course.
Tampa police said the incident occurred around 1:30 p.m. May 4 at the Dunkin’ location at 410 S. 50th Street.
According to court records, the customer, Vonelle Cook, 77, who was white, had gone through the drive-thru to order coffee and was angry over the lack of service. While in the drive-thru, Dunkin’ employees had trouble hearing him, and he started to yell at them about poor service.
Employees told Cook, a regular at the establishment, to leave, but he parked his car, walked inside, and was aggressive and verbally abusive toward employees, prosecutors said.
Pujols asked a co-worker to call the police, leading to an argument between him and Cook, FOX 13 Tampa Bay reported.
When Pujols, who is black, asked Cook to leave, police said Cook called him a racial slur.
Pujols then walked around the counter and asked Cook not to call him that slur again, but when Cook did, Pujols punched him in the jaw, according to the station.
Cook fell and hit his head on the floor. He was taken to the hospital, where he died three days later.
An autopsy showed that he suffered a skull fracture and brain contusions.
Pujols had initially been charged with aggravated manslaughter following the incident. Prosecutors accepted a plea deal from Pujols, who agreed to plead guilty to the lesser charge of felony battery, according to FOX 13.
Grayson Kamm, a spokesman for Hillsborough State Attorney Andrew Warren, said prosecutors, in their decision, considered the “totality of the circumstances,” which included Pujols’ lack of criminal history, his youth, and the fact that he did not intend to cause Cook’s death, the Tampa Bay Times reported.
“Two of the primary factors were the aggressive approach the victim took toward the defendant and everyone working with the defendant, and that the victim repeatedly used possibly the most aggressive and offensive term in the English language,” Kamm said.
Cook was a registered sex offender, court records show.
What a grade-school level piece of trash-rag writing this article is! Amazing that the title somehow omits the fact that the thug employee Killed the customer and basically received a “woke” sentence of Community Service due to the Leftist DAs reducing the charges due to the snowflake murderer allegedly being called a word commonly used in Every rap song and between almost all black youths which the biased DA laughingly and falsely considers “the most aggressive and offensive term in the English language”! IF this gaslighting statement were true, there’s ZERO chance society would allow it to be used by ANYONE, in ANY song or conversation! Wish she would explain exactly how words are “aggressive” since no “word” has ever attacked anyone! Also, the untruthful disinformation listed by the Leftist DA falsely states the 77-year old victim “aggressively confronted the youth”, when in reality, the Grown Man who killed the customer, was Not Only 50-Years Younger than the deceased man, but the Employee Chose to come from behind the counter with the intent to aggressively confront the victim, not vice versa as implied! Lastly, only an idiot would consider a 27-year old to be a “youth”! Wokeism and black privilege strike again folks! (Reverse the races of the two men and honestly say a white man killing an elderly black man over a word would result in the white man receiving the “harsh punishment” of Community Service (no jail time at all)!!!
Don’t have a problem with this at all….. i think the judge may have actually been unnecessarily harsh on this kid….. who i would add is working/has a job…. Yeah it may seem like a small thing but in todays climate…….
This kid didn’t intend to kill so at the most manslaughter- and you have a hard time making the case that cook wasnt the aggressor…… his rap sheet and his action prove that.
This smacks of a bit of what Americans used to call frontier justice….. this guy had it coming….
As a society we hav arrived at the point where we feel we can assault someone verbally and get up in their face without consequences…… 100 years ago he would have been shot dead and no one would have a second thought……. Although 100 years ago a sex offender didn’t live to 77 years…..
I say to this kid….. good job….. he gave him multiple opportunities to leave and do the right thing and as was the consistent behavior of this mans life……. He chose wrong…. And this time it caught up with him
I agree with liberaldolt above the word is only offensive when used by a white person . The black
Community uses this word in there songs they call each other this all day everyday and it’s not
Offensive to them . If the tables where turned this would have been a hate crime and racist and the naacp , Jesse Jackson and all the rest of them would be all over this
If that was reversed the white guy would be in jail for life. This country has gone nuts.
I’m surprised they didn’t give the employee a medal
, I mean for his wokeness.
The Fucking NIGGER murders a guy and gets house arrest ? Hopefully, someone catches up with, and puts the NIGGER in the ground. The Judge too !
and this is justice? how so? for who? so if someone calls me white trash, I can kill them, good to know. very interesting indeed. when society wakes up, and all people have to face the consequences for their actions, it’s going to be too late..