The owner of a Cherokee County pizza parlor and his two sons were arrested last week after an argument with a customer led to a brawl in the restaurant’s parking lot, authorities said.
Canton police were called to Perrotta’s Pizza along Reinhardt College Parkway about 7:15 p.m. Thursday and found a man bleeding next to his car, according to a police report.
“There was a puddle of blood on the asphalt near the vehicle and (the man’s) nose was actively bleeding,” an officer wrote.
The man told officers he was inside the restaurant with his wife when he was attacked by three employees, Canton police spokesman Officer Pacer Cordry said. Those employees turned out to be the restaurant’s owner, Louis Perrotta, and his sons, 23-year-old Anthony and 18-year-old Vincent, authorities said.
According to the report, the customer and his wife ordered a pizza online, but it wasn’t ready when they arrived at the restaurant. The couple sat down at a table and ordered drinks, but were reportedly told by Louis Perrotta’s wife that they couldn’t order online and then sit inside the store, authorities said.
Words were exchanged and, at some point, the male customer cursed at the woman, according to the report.
“It quickly escalated,” Cordry told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “The son and the father came out of the kitchen and just came after the guy at the table. They picked him up and kind of threw him against the door of the restaurant.”
The customer told police he was initially attacked inside the restaurant, hit by a second employee while trying to leave and then punched by a third family member in the parking lot. He also said his nose was broken in the scuffle.
Police spoke with several witnesses, including a Cherokee County firefighter and a Roswell police officer who were inside the restaurant at the time, according to the police reports. They said they saw the man being dragged outside but weren’t sure what the argument was about. One woman, who said she knew the family, reportedly told police she thought “the kids did the right thing by standing up for their mother.”
The owner’s wife initially told officers there were no cameras, but later pulled up the surveillance footage on her cellphone and showed the police what happened, authorities said.
“In the video, Vincent can be seen wandering around the dining room and Louis can be seen watching from the kitchen,” the report said.
Louis Perrotta eventually came out of the kitchen and pushed the customer into a glass window before picking him up and dragging him to the front of the restaurant, police said. In the video, the owner’s two sons could also be seen shoving the man outside and following him into the parking lot.
Louis Perrotta and his sons were charged with misdemeanor battery and booked into the Cherokee County Jail, Cordry said.
The 49-year-old restaurant owner was also charged after police found two separate pills in an unmarked bottle during his arrest. He told officers the prescription drugs were simply blood pressure medication, records show. In addition, Anthony Perrotta was charged with possession of a schedule 1 drug after officers discovered a THC vape pen while arresting him, according to police.
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