Florida Dunkin’ Employee Who Fatally Punched Customer, 77, Over Racial Slur Sentenced to House Arrest

A Dunkin’ employee in Tampa, Florida, accused of fatally punching a customer who used a racial slur against him last year was sentenced to two years of house arrest after pleading guilty to felony battery.

The worker, Corey Pujols, 27, was ordered by a Tampa judge on Monday to complete 200 hours of community service and attend an anger management course.

Corey Pujols

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{snip} Vonelle Cook, 77, who is White, had gone through the drive-thru to order coffee and was angry over the lack of service. {snip}

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When Pujols, who is Black, asked Cook to leave, police said Cook called him a racial slur.

Pujols then walked around the counter and asked Cook not to call him that slur again, but when Cook did, Pujols punched him {snip}

Cook fell and hit his head on the floor. {snip}

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Grayson Kamm, a spokesman for Hillsborough State Attorney Andrew Warren, said prosecutors, in their decision, considered the “totality of the circumstances” {snip}

“Two of the primary factors were the aggressive approach the victim took toward the defendant and everyone working with the defendant, and that the victim repeatedly used possibly the most aggressive and offensive term in the English language,” Kamm said.

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