From Tucson News Now
TUCSON, AZ (Tucson News Now) –
Tucson police have arrested a man who they say attacked a group of Muslim women sitting at a Starbucks on University Boulevard.
44-year-old Manuel Lewis was arrested Sunday, Jan. 14, around 9 p.m. in an alley behind the coffee shop in Main Gate Square.
Officer Chris Hawkins with the Tucson Police Department said Lewis had knives on him when he shouted racial slurs and anti-Muslim derogatory comments at the seven women sitting on the patio outside the Starbucks.
According to witnesses and police, at one point, Lewis flipped over their table and broke one of the women’s phone.
“He came. He ran and pushed into their table. A couple of the girls fell down. He threw their table over,” said Joseph Witzke, who said he witnessed the incident and captured the arrest of Lewis on his cell phone.
Lewis allegedly took off running toward the back alley. Witzke and a few other men chased Lewis down and detained him until officers got there a few minutes later.
Lewis was booked on seven counts of disorderly conduct, two counts of assault with no injuries, and two counts of criminal damage, Officer Hawkins said.
We’ve been told this has happened before – that Lewis specifically shouted derogatory comments nearby at Sinbad’s Restaurant, a middle-eastern food establishment, in Main Gate Square.
