A 27 year old doughnut shop employee who fatally punched a 77 year old customer over being called the N-word has been sentenced to two years of house arrest, according to reporting by WTVT-TV.
Investigators report that Vonelle Cook went through a Dunkin’ Donuts drive-through in Tampa, Florida, on May 5, 2021, and was angry about the lack of service.
Employees say that Cook was a regular customer and was “regularly troublesome and abusive,” WTVT said, citing a state attorney’s office press release.
Cook then parked his car and walked into the restaurant, and prosecutors said he was aggressive and verbally abusive toward the employees — including 27 year old Corey Pujols, the news outlet said.
When Pujols — who is black — asked the abusive customer to leave, police say that Cook called him the N-word.
Pujols reportedly told Cook not to call him the racial slur again, but Cook ignored the warning and did it again.
After the second use of the N-word, Pujols punched Cook in the jaw. The punch knocked Cook out and caused him fall and hit his head on the floor.
Tampa Fire Rescue responded to the scene and took Cook to a hospital, where he died from his injuries three days later. An autopsy revealed that he suffered a skull fracture and brain contusions from the fall.
Police arrested Pujols and he was charged with aggravated manslaughter of an elderly adult. But prosecutors later made a deal with him, allowing him to plead guilty to a lesser charge of felony battery in exchange for a more lenient sentence.
Alongside two years of house arrest, the judge sentenced the former Dunkin’ Donuts employee to complete 200 hours of community service and attend an anger management course.
“This outcome holds the defendant accountable while taking into account the totality of the circumstances — the aggressive approach and despicable racial slur used by the victim, along with the defendant’s age, lack of criminal record, and lack of intent to cause the victim’s death,” Grayson Kamm, spokesperson for the Hillsborough state attorney’s office, told WTVT in a statement.
Prosecutors also noted Cook’s “very troublesome criminal history” and prison time — court records show that he is a registered sex offender — which they say made him an “unsympathetic victim,” WTVT reported.
Darrin Johnson, an attorney for Pujols, declined to comment after the hearing, the news outlet said.
Below is a WTVT report that aired after Cook’s death:
Source: The Blaze