Regret. Pain. Ageism. Getting old isn’t easy. But what’s more tragic is when seniors can’t frequent their local early bird eatery without fear for their personal safety. Take for example an incident that occurred at about 3:45 p.m. Tuesday at the Golden Corral in Wilkesboro, North Carolina.
Because that’s when police say a 64-year-old woman instigated a food fight that left two other seniors injured, and potentially robbed of the ability to enjoy future hot buffets without looking over their shoulders.
Here’s how it went down according to police.
One of the alleged victims, Linwood Moore, claims the suspect, Polly Richards, intentionally bumped into him at the salad bar. Already things were getting hardcore.
Witnesses and surveillance video revealed that Richards cursed at Moore before grabbing his shirt and shoving him against the wall. Somewhere in the exchange, she reportedly got in a slap to the man’s face for good measure.
Police say Moore recently had stents put in his heart and was afraid the woman was going to hurt him. But he looked fear straight in the face and said “Get out of here, fear.” And that’s when police say he grabbed the woman’s arms and pushed them away causing her to fall to the floor.
Now this is where it gets a little hazy. Somewhere in the melee, police say Richards threw a plate of food hitting another patron. That patron was 62-year-old Fay Cardwell. Cardwell is expected to survive but did receive knot on her shin and knee from the impact.
But with every crime, the lines can be blurry. Employees told police that the whole thing started when the 69-year-old Moore, with stints in his heart, went around Richards in line to pay while she was getting a drink.
But police apparently didn’t buy that he was at fault and arrested Richards who told them “just take me to the f***in’ jail then.”
The foul mouthed senior with the million dollar arm was charged with two counts of assault and battery and jailed on a $1500 secured bond.
“It starts when you begin to overlook good manners. Any time you quit hearing Sir and Mam the end is pretty much in sight…” – Cormac McCarthy, No Country for Old Men