Woman Charged In Tire Iron Assault At Taco Bell

June 2, 2015 8:32 AM

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(credit: Ramsey County Jail)

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — A 24-year-old woman is accused bringing a tire iron to a fight at a Taco Bell restaurant in St. Paul after an altercation erupted over a wrong order, according to charges filed in Ramsey County Court.

Laresha Marie Uting was charged with second-degree riot in connection with the May 26 incident. Two people she was in the restaurant with at the time of the incident have also been arrested, according to St. Paul Police.

According to the charges, St. Paul Police were called to the Taco Bell restaurant at about 9 p.m. on May 26 on a report of a fight. When officers arrived, they located a customer at the store who had a laceration on top of his head.

The complaint states the man was inside the restaurant when three people, identified as Uting, a black male and another black female, came inside and were being rude to the staff. The victim, who is a regular customer, tried to talk to the group about their mistreating the staff and they got into a verbal altercation. The three left the store and banged on a glass window.

According to the complaint, the three returned and the black male had a metal pipe that looked to be part of a car jack. A shorter black female threw a chair at employees behind the service counter, and the black male hit the victim over the head with the pipe and the group left.

Another witness at the drive-thru with his girlfriend told police the store couldn’t take his order at the time so he went inside to order food. As he got out of his vehicle, he was jumped by two people. The man punched one of the assailants, and the suspects got on top of him and caused scratches on his face before leaving the scene.

The complaint states a store manager told police a group of black males and females went through the drive-thru and ordered food. They parked their car and entered the restaurant, complaining that their order was wrong. The manager checked the order and verified that it was correct, and the group continued to be belligerent and swore at staff.

A group of teens asked them to stop harassing the staff and leave. They refused to leave and argued with the employee, which led to a fight. Uting then went out to their vehicle and grabbed a tire iron. Uting told police she gave the tire iron to a man named “Guns” and got it because someone threw a chair at them, the complaint states. “Guns” hit the customer over the head with the tire iron.

Uting told police the other victim was in the drive-thru ordering food and was attacked for no reason. She tried to pull the two assailants off the victim and told them that the second victim had nothing to do with what happened inside the store, the complaint states.

If convicted, Uting faces up to give years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
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