UPDATE: InAugust 2019, Tony Russo Jr. was certifiedfor expungement related to this case by the Worcester County Circuit Court.
A supervisor from an Ocean City Boardwalk pizza place accused of assaulting an employee is disputing claims he beat the man, saying he was trying to remove a fired worker who was causing a disruption in the business.
On Aug. 24, an Ocean City police incident report shows officers responded to Tony’s Pizza on the Ocean City Boardwalk for a report of “simple assault,” with Tony Russo Jr. listed as the suspect.
On Sept. 6, anemployee on a J-1 student visa filed a second-degree assault charge against Russo with the Worcester County District Court Commissioner. The employee wrote that Russo hit him on the neck after he refused to wash dishes because he had burned a pizza, and then beat him when he called 911.
The employee said he was draggedinto the kitchen and had to be taken by ambulance to Atlantic General Hospital after another employee helped free him, according to charging documents.
Police were dispatched to the restaurant just before 8 p.m. in response to an assault reported by a 25-year-old employee, Ocean City police public affairs specialist Lindsay Richard wrote in an email.
She said the worker was taken to the hospital to be treated for "minor injuries." Because the incident was concerning second-degree assault, she said officers could not press charges at the time because the altercation did not occur in their presence.
Russo said he plans to seek counter charges against the employee in this incident and in a separate dispute over the employee's hours.
Russo acknowledged Friday that he did "slap" the employee away from the pizza oven, but said he never hit him with a closed fist or beat him.
“A slap is one thing, but beating him is another thing,” he said.
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While serving as night shift manager, Russo said that he was called to the front pizza area to resolve a dispute among employees. Several employees had been complaining about this employee, he said, because he kept closing the oven door, which can create a safety hazard.
Not only were pizzas getting burnedbut Russo said the pizza maker, who needs to be able to get his arm in and out of the oven quickly, can get burned as well.
“Keeping the door closed is a dangerous situation, especially when we are busy,” he said, which he noted is usually the case in August.
The employee had been told several times to stop before Russo said he confronted him, asking him to go home. When the employee refused, Russo said he fired him and requested that he leave the restaurant.
But the employee continued to refuse, he said. It was after a brief standoff in front of the oven during which the employee was “verbally combative” that Russo said he slapped him away from the oven to prevent anyone from getting burned.
“Why didn’t he just walk out when I said he was fired? This would have never happened,” he said.
At that point, he said the employee still refusedto leave, saying he wanted to call the police. Russo said he told the employee that was fine, but he needed to make the calloff the premises because he was creating a disturbance.
As Russo was trying to walk around the employee, he said the employee collapsed to the floor and “pretends” he’s been pushed to the ground. This created another safety hazard, he said, so he tried to pull the employee up from the ground, but he refused to budge.
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Russo said he had to “drag him by both arms” to the back area in an attempt to get him out the door. There was a “10-minute pushing match,” he said, as they wrestled before he was able to get him out the back door and then lock the business from the inside.
The Ocean City police incident report lists various videos and images as evidence of the case.
Russo has video of the incidentwhich he allowed The Daily Times to view.
During that altercation, Russo said video in his possession shows that he never punched or tried to beat the employee, and he described his actions as a “reasonable use of force” to get the employee out of the restaurant, which he says he had a right to do.
“I’m sorry for what happened, but I was doing it for everyone else’s safety,” Russo said.
He said video also shows that the employee was able to walk out of the restaurant “normally” and only began behaving as though he had been seriously injured once an ambulance and police officers had arrived on the scene.
The footage also makes it clear, Russo said, that he pointed toward the back door several times, directing the employee to leave the restaurant.
