During an alleged “racial” confrontation, a black Dunkin’ Donuts manager told police he punched an elderly white customer in the head. When the victim eventually died from his injuries, some internet users began celebrating his death for a sick reason.
A 77-year-old white man died from severe head injuries after he was attacked by a black coffee shop manager over what the suspect says was a racially charged confrontation. According to Newsweek, 27-year-old Corey Pujols confessed to police that he punched the elderly man while working in a Dunkin’ Donuts in Tampa, Florida.
The elderly man, whose identity has not been made public due to legislation barring police from doing so, was knocked out with a single punch to the face, which caused him to fall and hit the back of his head on the concrete. Pujols claims that he became angry when the victim uttered a racial slur and proceeded to punch him in the face, knocking him out cold.
The police report states that the victim was in his car at the drive-thru window when he became upset with the service. Employees reportedly told the man to leave, but he refused, parking his car and heading into the building. Pujols says that this is when he engaged in an argument with the elderly man.
Pujols told police that the victim, who frequently patrons the coffee shop, was being “extremely rude” and eventually called the black manager a racial slur, but the report fails to specify which epithet was allegedly used. Pujols claims that he asked the man to repeat what he said and that the victim said the same slur again. It was then that Pujols says he punched the man once in the face, causing him to fall back and hit his head on the floor. Surveillance footage shows that the victim never touched Pujols during the argument.
Authorities arrived to find the elderly victim unconscious and bleeding from his head. He was rushed to Tampa General Hospital and placed in intensive care for two days before succumbing to his injuries. An autopsy showed that the victim suffered a skull fracture and several brain contusions. He died as a result of blunt trauma. The Hillsborough Medical Examiner’s Office ruled the death a homicide.
Pujols was first arrested following the attack and charged with battery on a person older than 65 before being released the next day on a $2,000 bond. After his victim died, he was arrested and charged with aggravated manslaughter of a person older than 65 and was denied bail. His charge is punishable by up to 30 years in prison.
Disturbingly, many are automatically taking Pujols at his word, believing without any proof that the elderly customer used a racial slur. Regardless, violence is not an appropriate or acceptable response to any offensive word, racist or other.
While most agreed that Pujols shouldn’t have aggressed toward the customer, some actually applauded him for killing the elderly man and celebrated his death with their comments.
“Stop being racist towards people because you’re angry and not expect them to do anything,” one user replied.
“Free my mans Pujols. Yt (white) folks expect everyone to be the bigger person except them,” another user wrote.
“I agree free him …the rules is changing we the people is not the people from the 60’s and 70’s we not singing we will overcome we sing we will come for you and old people can get it too there’s no exemptions….be respectful or loose your teeth,” another wrote.
“Lol ‘words can’t hurt you’ so why you saying em? To get a rise out of someone, correct ? He got what he was looking for,” another wrote.
“I have zero sympathy for some entitled racist scum who thinks he has the right to berate and insult a low paid worker, especially with a racial slur. As someone who has worked in the service industry for years I believe that the way you treat people in service jobs clearly reveals your character and the type of person you truly are. The world is better off without him,” another wrote.
The incident sheds light on the tragic state of our nation when it comes to race relations. Some people want so badly for there to be white supremacists to blame that they are willing to celebrate an elderly man’s death over a simple word that he may or may not have said.
The lie of the media and political elite that there is a racist around every corner has stoked fear and suspicion, pitting us against our fellow citizens. The grand conspiracy isn’t white supremacy or systemic racism but the powers that be pitting us against one another so as to divide and conquer us.
