Philadelphia cheesesteak attack suspect says he’s an influential critic who throws food at waiters if he doesn’t like it: police
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A content creator who allegedly filmed himself throwing a cheesesteak at a manager at Philadelphia’s popular Pat’s King of Steaks has turned himself in and been charged with harassment, police said Friday.
The man turned himself in Thursday, a day after the confrontation at the South Philadelphia cheesesteak shop. A Philadelphia police spokesperson announced the harassment charge Friday morning, but did not reveal the identity of the suspect, CBS News reports.
Police said the creator told them he reviews restaurants and throws food at employees if he doesn’t like it, according to 6ABC Philadelphia.
The interaction, which was filmed, appeared to have started innocently enough. A man, wearing a dark hoodie and holding a tripod with a camera, ordered a cheesesteak Wednesday and left with his food, only to return about 10 minutes later with the opened sandwich and a complaint.
“This steak is trash,” general manager Tom Francano recalled telling the customer, according to CBS News.
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Francano tried to determine what was wrong, asking other customers who ordered cheesesteaks if they were satisfied with their food. They said yes, but the filming client remained angry.
“That’s when he got a little angry. He got mad and picked up the steak and threw it at me,” Francano told CBS News.
“My first reaction was, ‘He hit me in the face.’ He stood at the window and then he took off running down the street,” Francano recalled to 6ABC Philadelphia. “It hit me right on the side of the face, it went everywhere, glass, everything.”
Surveillance footage shows the man handling the cheesesteak before returning to the serving window.
Pat’s owner Frank Olivieri said the footage showed the customer tearing the sandwich with his hands before approaching Francano.
Francano, who has worked at Pat’s for 47 years, said he suspected from the start that the customer was trying to get attention online. He noticed the man was filming with his phone before he even ordered the cheesesteak, he told NBC Philadelphia..
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After throwing the cheesesteak at Francano, the man fled. The manager was not seriously injured.
Olivieri responded by offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to the man’s arrest and charges. At the time, police described the suspect as being about 6 feet tall and weighing 170 pounds, wearing a blue Under Armor jacket, black shorts and red Beats headphones.
“He assaulted my employee,” Olivieri told CBS News. “The power of the camera, the AI, we will find it. We will find it.”
Now the restaurant plans to ban customers from filming while ordering similar incidents to be avoided.
The Independent has contacted the Philadelphia Police Department and Pat’s King of Steaks for comment.
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