What began as a normal Sunday night shift at Burrito Boarder, for sophomore Sandra Pierre, 19, ended in assault, racial tension and a mess of Mexican food.
At around 9:45 p.m. on March 9, 15 minutes before the downtown St. Petersburg burrito joint, was set close, a black man, who Pierre, a black woman, described as about 5 feet 8 inches tall, with a wide build, facial hair and slight accent, came in.
According to Pierre, this is what happened next.
After a minor mistake with the customer’s order, he demanded free queso. Pierre told him no. The customer began cursing at her and calling her derogatory names.
“Shut the f*** up, b**** and finish making my s***,” he said. Pierre said her manager gave her a look to say “hurry up and get him out,” but the aggression and name calling didn’t stop. Ultimately, the manager kicked him out of the restaurant.
Thinking he’d left, Pierre went outside the restaurant, at 17 Third St. N, to clean up the outdoor seating area. The man was outside waiting for her, and continued to harass her. She threatened to call the police. Suddenly, he hurled his burrito at her back, knocking off her glasses and breaking them. Through blurred vision, Pierre then saw the begrudged customer’s fist coming toward her face.
Pierre’s coworker, Molly Craig, 23, saw Pierre take the hit. She then rushed outside to help her.
“He wanted to hurt her. He had her in his hands and was hitting her,” Craig said.
The women said, the man pushed Craig down by her neck, and then dragged both of them across the sidewalk by their hair. Both women defended themselves the best they could, coming out with some scratches and bruises. A week later, however, Pierre said she is still sore.
Patrons at the bar a few doors down from Burrito Boarder jumped in to help. One person flagged down a St. Petersburg Police officer, while others cornered the man in the alley.
The office, whose last name is Maric, is a middle-aged white woman, Pierre and Craig said.
Pierre told Maric the man had laid his hands them both, but he told the officer Pierre knocked his food out of his hand.
According to Pierre, Maric showed no emotion. The officer told the man he could go.
“I hear about people being able to walk away from a crime … didn’t think it’d happen to me,” Pierre told The Crow’s Nest.
Shocked the officer didn’t take action, Pierre said she told her, “If I was white, and I said this big black man is trying to beat the crap out of me, you’d have done everything in your power to not let him walk away.”
She said Maric replied, “I’ve seen girls half her (Craig’s) size beat on guys like him.” Craig is white and weighs 126 pounds.
Several witnesses offered to make statements, but since none had seen the ordeal from start to finish, Maric said they would be invalid.
Craig said Maric eventually decided to record her statement. The officer asked her why she jumped in instead of just calling the police.
“Would you wait for your coworker to be beaten while you call the police?” Craig asked Maric. The officer did not reply.
After letting the alleged attacker go, the officer wrote down the two victims’ statements, gave them a case number and said she’d “keep in touch.”
Later, Pierre called the St. Petersburg Police Department to file a complaint against Maric. She spoke to Sgt. Tetey, who said because others jumped in, the incident is considered a “brawl,” not an assault. He said he’d get the story from Maric the next day, Pierre said.
Hours after the incident, Pierre shared her experience on the USFSP Know-It-All’s Guide on Facebook. The next day, Frank Wells, who has worked for Mayor Rick Kriseman and is a close friend of his, offered to help. He notified the mayor’s office of the incident.
On March 11, Tetey called her and said Maric was now aware of her error and apologized. However, since the man was let go, there was nothing more the police department could do. Pierre questionss why they could not have gone back and asked for camera footage, or more statements from witnesses.
Pierre said she contacted the department’s internal affairs office, and Maric is now under investigation. She should hear results by the middle of this week. Though she wants to press charges against Maric and her alleged attacker, she said she cannot find a lawyer who will represent her in a civil lawsuit.
The Burrito Boarder incident was the first time Pierre felt truly unsafe and in need of help from law enforcement. Yet, the officer just turned away, she said.
Pierre feels Maric had a preconceived notion of her, because of her race, before ever talking to her.
“She just looked at me and decided she wouldn’t bother,” Pierre said. “I believe race was a big part of it. She already had her assumption. She said she’d seen so many cases where the girl starts it first and tried to play the victim, so she automatically took his side of the story.”
Pierre wonders if the story would have been different if Craig was initially attacked.
Pierre’s coworker, Molly Craig, 23, who is not a USFSP student, endured scratches on her arms and scrapes on her abdomen while trying fend off the alleged attacker.
The man was allowed to leave the scene as if he did nothing wrong, Pierre said. She cried as she watched him walk away.
Pierre and Craig went to the hospital the morning after the attack. While there, a friend called and told her the customer had been bragging about hitting her and getting away with it.
Though Pierre has ties to people who know the man, she said they are abiding by a “no snitching policy” and are not willing to get involved.
Feeling unsafe in St. Petersburg, Pierre went home to Fort Lauderdale last week to be with her family. Upon returning, she plans to meet with the mayor and St. Petersburg Police Department chief of staff to discuss the issue of racial discrimination in St. Petersburg and solutions for prevention.
“This has been going on for years and no one comes forward. No one fights for it,” she said. “I want to make sure there are equal rights for everyone. There should be no premade assumptions that prevent them from helping people, regardless of race.”
A few hours after the assault, Pierre and Craig say they saw four police officers surrounding a white woman passed out on a bench, from what seemed like intoxication. They wondered where those officers were when they were being kicked and punched on the sidewalk.
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