I don’t make a habit of it and I feel a little bad whenever I do, but there have been times when I’ve paid for things with nothing but change. Thank goodness none of those times was a transaction at Islam El Masry’s food cart. I enjoy Sriracha, but not when it’s applied directly to my eyes. But hey, at least he was nice enough to give the poor woman some racial slurs for free…allegedly.
The owner of a downtown food cart was arrested on misdemeanor assault charges this afternoon after hurling a Gatorade bottle at a black customer and then allegedly spraying her with Sriracha.
A video taken by the alleged victim, Carlotta Washington, was provided to Willamette Week by an eyewitness. It shows Islam El Masry, owner of the Small Pharoah’s halal cart, arguing with Washington, who claims that El Masry called her the n-word after she attempted to pay for her lunch with quarters.
The video shows El Masry telling her to “get the fuck away” from the cart, then throws a Gatorade bottle at her, causing her to drop her phone.Washington says that El Masry then sprayed her with Sriracha chili sauce, though that is not on the video.
“It was in my eyes and all on my skin. It was burning terribly,” Washington says.
I don’t know how many quarters it was going to take Washington to pay for her food, but El Masry will need about 16,000 of them if he’s going to make bail.
I’m having visions of that late-night beer you paid for in nickels, dimes, and maybe pennies.
Funny. That’s the first one that came to mind when I was writing that. I felt bad, but my favourite part of that story is her irritatedly counting it, telling me triumphantly “you’re a little short” and then me going back into the wallet for more and nailing it.
Irritatedly isn’t a word, is it?