Cafe Employee Scalded by Co-Worker During Dispute

Columns

by Katie Pyzyk — November 28, 2012 at 10:30 am 7,029 40 Comments

An employee of a cafe in Ballston is in the hospital after being burned with boiling water during an altercation with a co-worker.

According to police, the two employees at Mary’s Cafe (4301 Wilson Blvd) have an ongoing dispute and have been known to argue at work on nearly a daily basis. The situation escalated around 7:45 a.m. when 55-year-old James A. Muse allegedly threw a pot of boiling water on the co-worker. The victim then allegedly drew a knife, but other workers intervened and separated the two.

Police arrested Muse at the scene and it is expected that he will be charged with malicious wounding.

According to police, the victim has second degree burns on his face, back and chest. He may be able to be released from the hospital later today. Nobody else was injured in the incident.

Oh Lord

It’s complicated.
Captain_Obvious

They were arguing about the Arlington Homebuyer assistance program.
- SomeGuy
  
  I heard it started when one of them intimated that perhaps fewer than 100% of people who voted “yes” on the parks bond knew its purpose was almost entirely to fund a new state of the art aquatics facility. The other felt that every Arlington voter is highly informed, and thus such an intimation was condescending.
  
  Without a comment moderator to step in and silence one of their opinions, a brouhaha ensued.
- Scott
  
  +1!
drax

Number of Days Without an Employee Scalded with Hot Water: 0
Razbo Oscar

So the victim was not amused?
Andy

Those two sound quite contrary.
- Ther Goes
  
  At least Mary does…..
Mike Honcho

Someone is in hot water!
- Ballston
  
  He was steamed
Drex

Send in Gordon Ramsey
Flo

Kiss My Grits!
Joey2W

This is the same James Muse who was in the A-SPAN newsletter last year as a success story from RPC and A-SPAN. A lot of organizations put a lot of work into helping that guy.
- John Fontain
  
  http://www.a-span.org/successStories.html
  - South Awwlington
    
    I’d venture we all have a temper at some level…learning to control it is key.
    - The Same Ninja from Glennwood
      
      Talk about it! my man just lost his cool thats all, we dont know the circumstances, but i have to admit if I got in an argument at work, and somebody pulled out a knife…I’m going to assume that this person wishes to kill me and take the necessary safeguards to protect myself….if it happens to be boiling water or a rubberband and a paperclip…ill do what i have to do….At least it wasnt HOT GRITS…Al Green style.
      - emanon
        
        knife was drawn AFTER the boiling water was thrown. Not saying there wasn’t some other provocation. Just saying the water was not in response to the knife.
      - LOL-ISH
        
        THE SAME NINJA FROM GLENNWOOD….THE NAME MADE ME LAUGH AND I THOUGHT OF A CLIP
    - Beth M.
      
      It does give pause — aspan, rpc, and the rest may have been premature in calling him a success story — it’s important to remember that rehab, job training, and a place to live are essential but not sufficient. You have to address the mental illnesses, poor coping skills, attitudes, etc. that got him into the mess in the first place.
  - FatherTime
    
    He doesn’t look mid-50s.
- MrMeow
  
  Glad a lot more like him will be here thanks to the year round shelter and the wonderful purchase of the building with money Arlington doesn’t have!
  - KathyInArlingtonVA
    
    MrMeow — what does the shelter have to do with this crime report?
- Harvey Birdman
  
  I’d venture that the majority of people helped by the A-SPAN program do not throw boiling water on people. One incident is not an indictment of the whole program.
  - drax
    
    Wild, unfair generalizations are perfectly fine here though.
  - Ashton Heights
    
    If he is the “success story” I fear for the failures. No bums in Ashton Heights!
    - The view in Ashton Heights
      
      Get a job sir!
      The bums will always lose!
      The bums will always lose!
Joehoya

Boy, that escalated quickly. I mean that really got out of hand fast.
South Awwlington

Does Mary’s not have a manager?? This is a wee bit redic.
JMB

Lesson learned, I hope – never bring a knife to a water fight.
- drax
  
  1/2 FREDTERP is hereby awarded.
SomeGuy

Judging from ArlNow photos, I conclude that ACPD Car #6743 is on scene A LOT.
KMR

How is the food at Mary’s? Just wondering..
- Brian
  
  Breakfast is not bad, lunch is revolting
- Ashton Heights
  
  The service can be a bit in your face, but at least the coffee is hot.
ID

Great breakfast on the cheap. A belly filler.
ID

Thunder Cafe! Two cooks enter, only one cook leaves.
- Rupert
  
  newest Fox special
MrMeow

Was teh guy who tried to firebomb Ballston mall also a “success story”? They went back and forth on him being homeless or not. And Its unlikely we’ll ever hear of that story again.
Ny

Everybody :::: joke all you want but a person with burns on his body is not f–king funny. Are you completely insensitive?
Amy

Many people who were never homeless or in need of assistance from their county have done similiar and worse things. The guy lost his cool. This is NOT an opportunity to write off an organization that is doing it’s best to help people and clean up our streets. Typical Arlington mentality.

Subscribe to our mailing list