A customer who delivered a disturbing and viral verbal tirade against the employees at a Connecticut smoothie shop has gone viral.
James Iannazzo ordered a smoothie for his son, who has a peanut allergy, from a Robeks smoothie shop in the New England state on Saturday. According to local police in the city of Fairfield, he reportedly asked that the drink not contain any peanut butter, but did not note the allergy when delivering his order to employees.
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Iannazzo then allegedly came back to the store after some time, and begin yelling at the employees, demanding that they tell him who made the smoothie drink that may have triggered an allergic reaction. The confrontation quickly escalates, with Iannazzo yelling at and berating the employees, calling them “f**king stupid, f**king ignorant high school kids.”
After one employee demanded that he leave the store, he continued yelling, turning his tirade towards her and delivering a disgusting anti-immigrant rant, yelling that she was a “f**king immigrant loser.” At one point — as the man is being recorded on video by employees from behind the counter — Iannazzo attempts to enter a door leading to an employees-only area of the store. He tops it all off by throwing the drink at the employee who he had previously been yelling at, before leaving.
So despicable!!!
Video of the incident quickly went viral over the weekend, with social media users sharing and commenting on the unsettling clip thousands of times. It is disturbing to see Iannazzo’s aggression, but you can click HERE to watch the video.
Iannazzo, who is 48 years old, was later arrested by the Fairfield PD and booked on charges of intimidation based on bias, breach of peace, and criminal trespass, according to local reports. He is set to make his first court appearance on February 7.
On Sunday, financial services giant Merrill Lynch announced that Iannazzo was a longtime employee of their company — and that he had been fired after the viral incident. A Sunday statement to Newsweek from the financial firm confirmed that the angry man had been canned:
“Our company does not tolerate behavior of this kind. We immediately investigated and have taken action. This individual is no longer employed at our firm.”
According to Newsweek, Iannazzo had worked for Merrill Lynch for 26 years.
Iannazzo’s attorney, Frank J. Riccio, released his own statement to the media, revealing that Iannazzo’s son was apparently “required to transport via ambulance to the hospital” in response to having the reported allergic reaction after consuming the smoothie.
The lawyer stated:
“His son has a life-threatening peanut allergy. Upon drinking the Robeks smoothie, his son had a severe allergic reaction which required transport via ambulance to the hospital. When faced with a dire situation, Mr. Iannazzo’ parental instinct kicked in and he acted out of anger and fear. He is not a racist and deeply regrets his statement and actions during a moment of extreme emotion.”
Wow. Here is more on this weekend’s unfortunate viral situation and the legal aftermath, from Fox 61 Connecticut (below):
Obviously, we can’t even imagine how scary it must be to have his son rushed to the hospital to deal with a scary allergic reaction like that. Our thoughts go out to that poor boy for what he must have had to endure.
Of course, that doesn’t make it right to unleash a disgusting and bigoted tirade or throw a drink at anyone! EVER!!!
[Image via Fairfield Police Department]
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