The manager of a Pittsburgh pizza shop is in jail after a video surfaced online showing his brutal assault on a patron looking to use the bathroom.
Jade Martin, 34, told police that she had been at the Ace’s Deuce’s Lounge on Fifth Avenue in Pittsburgh on Friday night. After getting a few drinks with a friend, she rushed out to catch the 7:30 p.m. bus, but missed it. She wandered into Pizza Milano, looking to use the bathroom, but the manager refused her.
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Eye witnesses told The Post Gazette that Martin tried to push past the manager, 41-year-old Mahmut Yilmaz, leading to a scuffle between the two. That’s why a patron began recording the encounter.
In the video, Yilmaz can be seen pushing Martin towards the door, commanding her to go. “Push me again,” she repeats several times, until finally making one more break for the bathroom. Yilmaz drags her to the floor, knocking over a table and chairs in the process. The video shows him banging her head on the floor as he cries, “I said please! Why you not going to listen to me?”
Martin was escorted from the restaurant to the hospital, where she was diagnosed with a concussion. She later told police she couldn’t remember the fight at all.
Yilmaz turned himself in at the police station on Saturday morning. He was charged with aggravated assault and simple assault. However, his arrest wasn’t enough for some people in Pittsburgh.
Protests erupted outside of Pizza Milano over the weekend. Protesters decried the assault as a racist hate crime, and demanded the restaurant shut down. They were also angered by the police response, which they felt was slow and inadequate.
A spokesperson for the department later claimed that the police weren’t called until Martin was at the hospital. However, witnesses insist she was led from the restaurant in handcuffs.
The video of the fight is nearing a million views on Facebook. It has sparked a huge controversy in the city and will presumably play a major role in Yilmaz’s case. The comments section has become a battleground, with viewers arguing whether the attack represents racism, sexism, anger issues, or any other manner of discrimination or mental instability.
To make matters worse, commenters are arguing whether the person filming the video shares blame in Martin’s injuries, as well as the other employees that rushed in when the commotion began.
