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Mass. Ave. pizzeria manager called 911 to report a panhandler was robbing customers at knifepoint; only problem, the guy wasn't

The manager of New York Pizza, 435 Massachusetts Ave. at Columbus Avenue, acknowledged today that not long after he called 911 to report that a panhandler who had been denied his customary free slice was refusing to leave on March 11, he called 911 back to report the man had a knife and was attempting to rob customers.

In fact, the man had no knife, and police had to inform the manager that making a false 911 call is a potential criminal offense, detectives said at a Boston Licensing Board hearing today. New York Pizza's attorney, though, said the issue is people from Mass and Cass are coming up along Mass. Ave. and putting fear into the hearts of business owners all along the street - and how was the manager to know the guy didn't have a knife, or didn't ditch it before police arrived?

The hearing wasn't even directly about events that night, but about its aftermath. New York Pizza was issued a citation for an earlier alleged failure to post its licenses in a prominent public spot and then for not having a required manager on duty when detectives arrived, twice, after that night to discuss the incident and to issue a notice of a licensing-board hearing.

Still, much of the hearing was about what happened the night of March 11, when New York Pizza staffers finally had enough and refused to give free pizza to a repeat panhandler whom they'd previously plied with food. New York Pizza attorney Thomas Finnerty said the man then refused to leave and began asking customers for money.

BPD Lt. Det. Adrian Troy, reading from department 911 logs, said somebody from New York Pizza called 911 at 9:38 p.m. to ask for help removing the man. At 9:41, Troy continued, that person called 911 again, this time to report the man had a knife and "was trying to rob the store."

That sparked a large-scale response from District D-4, whose officers arrived en masse and promptly found the man. However, "no knife was found," Troy said.

Finnerty acknowledged the manager "stupidly and ignorantly" made that second call to 911.

But, he continued, look at it from his perspective: A moocher who won't leave "is very frustrating to a person running a pizzeria," he said: You can't physically force a person out, because then he can claim assault and battery. "Everybody has their own situation but [people like his client] are trying to run a business," and this guy refused several requests to leave, he said.

And when you throw in the crowd he claimed is coming up Mass. Ave. from Mass and Cass and now business owners have to be worried about even worse stuff than some guy angrily asking for pizza. "Sooner or later, you're going to have no businesses on Mass. Ave. and Columbus Avenue," he said.

Addressing the manager, he asked, "for all you know, he might have had a knife?" The manager replied "correct." The attorney then asked, "For all you know, he might have ditched the knife before police arrived?" The manager replied "yes."

Eventually, board Chairwoman Kathleen Joyce had enough of the 911-call discussion, because that was not before the board. The board decides Thursday whether New York Pizza merits any sort of sanction for not having a manager on duty when the detectives arrived and for not displaying its food-serving license and one to operate a radio on a public place.

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Comments

but I appreciated the fair explanation of the merchant's perspective.

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Let's start with not lying.

There are many problems in our society and much to critique. But lying to the police, which endangers the public, is a crime. It's clear a crime was committed here while also admitting the system is flawed.

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Their first and biggest mistake was giving the guy a free slice to begin with. Instead, right from the start he should have been told 'no' and to get out.

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… the root of all evil.

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They could have called police and just said he was angry and refused to leave. They didnt have to lie.

And yeah, they probably never should have given him a free slice to begin with, or they should have just given him another, and told him he had to take it and leave.

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Quite possible that the manager thought the police don't even bother responding to calls of such a low priority now. No idea if this is true in Boston but it's happening elsewhere. Police completely ignoring anything less than acts of physical violence.

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It sounds like they did:

somebody from New York Pizza called 911 at 9:38 p.m. to ask for help removing the man.

And then, three minutes later:

At 9:41, Troy continued, that person called 911 again, this time to report the man had a knife and "was trying to rob the store."

Any reasonable person is not going to expect a cop car to get there in three minutes. It's not like they called for trespassing, got impatient, and then called again. I would bet 10 whole american dollars and a slice of pizza that the 9:38 call involved dispatch asking if the man was doing anything violent, being told no, and telling the pizza owners that cops will "get around to it" when they "have time" and not to expect a response anytime in the future. Maybe cops will come around tuesday to check it out or something. The worker on the phone then has a minute or two to confer with their coworkers and decides to escalate, thus the call at 9:41.

Which, yes, is still lying and still not okay, but there's a certain understandable logic to it. When the mechanisms by which the state is supposed to uphold its end of the deal (providing police services) break down, the contract that normal people hold (not lying about the situation requiring police) also tends to break down, because people are failable and if the choice is putting up with a mentally ill probably verbally aggressive panhandler and holding up some philosophical high horse about the rule of law, somebody making 15$ an hour burning themselves on the pizza oven is going to choose what solves their problem.

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Maybe we should actually do something about homelessness. Most are not drug addicts or drunks.

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While sadly, many are, and their behaviors present a lot of problems for anyone just trying to live or run a business in the area.

Maybe we should actually do something about homelessness. Most are not drug addicts or drunks.

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is this satire?

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Most of the people milling about Mass&Cass and living there in tarp huts and pop-up dome tents are struggling with serious and chronic mental illness which too many have treated by self-medicating with drugs and or alcohol. That is the reality. Yes, we need housing. Free housing with wrap-around services. Once people are on the mend, if ever (another reality check here folks), then they can move out of housing with wrap-around services into subsidized housing, provided they can secure and hold onto a job--in other words, live independently as autonomous adults. And, if we can't see fit to provide free housing with wrap-around services to those most in need, then we are going to see more and more places that look like Mass&Cass.

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Part of the issue is housing with required wrap-around services still is voluntary. If somebody doesn't want to get clean, you cannot force them to if they can walk back out onto the street. If someone is deep in schizophrenic psychosis, you cannot force them to take their medicine short of them actively lunging at people with a knife. Your proposed solution would help a number of people on the edge cases and we should definitely do it but it's never going to help the worst off, who unfortunately are also the most disruptive to society.

Locked units will never come back at a society wide scale and understandably so but the trade off for that is you will never actually fix the worst problems.

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Such as Mental health facilities but there is too much money being made to “solve” homelessness, so I suspect it will get worse before it gets better. Throw in an economic downturn and bleek is the color of the day.

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… been to Downtown Crossing, North Station area, Boston Common/Tremont Street, and, of course, the tent city known as "Methadone Mile" lately? I have. If most of the homeless of the City of Boston are not drug addicts, alcoholics and/or mentally ill, then they are keeping well out of sight.

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Yes because I am homeless. I am not on the street. I lost my apartment and now, my husband is one place and I am in another. We have pets, so going into shelters is not really an option. I have never done drugs and I am not an alcoholic. You don't hear about us because we are not the ones (generally causing problems) and we are invisible. I have been mentally ill almost all of my life, but if I hurt anyone, it will be myself.

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I feel for you. While the Mass and Cass crew are the most obvious symptom of this problem, they're also the most intractable and get the most attention and resources. Meanwhile a huge, huge portion of the homeless population in this country is "invisible", crashing on a rotating series of couches or living in their cars, showering at gyms, still going to work. I truly wish there was more effort and resources spend on people like you and your husband, people who really do need just a concentrated burst of help and support and then can get back to normal living, instead of the constant dog and pony show of the mass and cass folk who, lets be real, are never going to really be solved unless a major major overhaul of reopening state homes happens.

But you guys are invisible and not what people point to angrily during election time, so I'm not optimistic. Hoping for good fortune to you and yours.

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… if they had a home to go to.

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manager is right. I stopped going in there because of the this problem. There are other places I will not return to because of this problem. When i am in a license business, i want to feel protecte.

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911 does not respond when you call about someone harassing customers.

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and justify fabricating an incident entirely, only because of my own prejudices...

because on the pizzaman's logic, well, the panhandler may very well have had a nuclear weapon.. we'll just never know.

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I understand the frustration of the pizza manager, but making a false report to 911 is inexcusable.

I for one have seen an uptick of troubling behavior on Mass Ave, especially by Berklee. I was nearly assaulted in broad daylight by someone with what appeared to be a mental health or drug problem. There is no easy solution to making streets feel safer, but working on a plan of action to address the problem needs to be a priority.

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Change the subject to avoid charges; That reminds me of somebody.
Well if nothing else the pizzeria managed to waste the boards time and not help their case at all.

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the night for a second-dinner slice. Their slices are pretty good and properly New York style huge / foldable.

The crowd is indeed sketchy and clearly under the influence of an array of substances. Plus there's the odd Mass and Cass lost soul, too.

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