Sounds like this dude was [previously arrested during a police raid in upstate New York](https://www.news10.com/news/four-arrested-after-police-raid-in-troy/) six years ago.
He was also arrested *last week* in New York for a burglary in November. [https://publicapps.troopers.ny.gov/media/TroopG/MediaThu1.pdf](https://publicapps.troopers.ny.gov/media/TroopG/MediaThu1.pdf)
Jesus. Every state needs 3 strike laws for violent crimes and crimes in other states should count towards it.
Violent anti-social idiots like this moron have no place in society and should be sequestered from it.
I saw this but the name is slightly different- so either the Inquirer got his name wrong, or it’s a different guy from Albany that’s the same age that has an incredibly similar name.
Thee are a million other places to sit and eat a cheesesteak in old city, yet this person decided to KILL someone over a seat? People like this deserve jail for life there is simply no defense here. Hope that spot and cheesesteak was worth it because that’s the last decent meal and peace he’s getting for a long time
Absolutely, also the article itself is misleading as well. Brian didn't die over a cheese steak he died because his boss sucks, he didn't exercise self control either plus the person who killed him is an idiot.
Three grown men being absolutely foolish and it's a real shame.
Sure you can be in the right, but sometimes it's best to just back off because there are crazy people out there that will harm you for little or no reason at all so it's just not worth the risk.
agreed. the article does acknowledge that a little bit. it's mentioned osha is investigating, and there is an interview with sonny's mgr about not confronting people eating on outside dining tables.
Very sad. A reminder to all workers out there: your life is worth more than a shit job. Your boss isn't going to deal with the aftermath, you are. If you get the chance, which as we see, sadly doesn't always happen.
If I had a good relationship with the owner and I was kindly asked for help, especially if the owner was older I think I would have stepped in to help too.
My parents used to own a business and I would step in to deal with stuff like this. My dad was in his 50s at the time, and in no condition to deal with people like that.
Never chased people after they were off the property but on-site was fair game.
He should’ve assessed the risk before asking for anyone’s help. If he’d already asked the person to move multiple times, and they refused, then he should (as any reasonable adult would) have known it would only escalate from there. Business owners and managers pick their battles every day for exactly this reason. For the safety of their employees
It's easy to say in retrospect, but moments like these happen fast. Emotions flare up, etc... Giving advice to others who might find themselves in similar situations is good, but let's not blame the victim. This is a senseless tragedy
Oh, def not blaming the victim. When I was saying “he,” I meant the manager who called the guy out to the situation. Re-reading that I totally see how it sounds like I’m talking about the victim
I can't blame the owner if he needed backup. At the end of the day, it's his business he has the right to protect the business. I'm sure the employee was more than willing to help too based on the article. I probably would have if that was me as well.
Unfortunately things like this are reasons why Lulu and other stores are allowing people to steal stuff and not having employees intervene.
You ever call 911 for a non emergency?
The dude trespassing and sitting on a chair outside wasn't gonna get solved for in 5 mins.
It only becomes an emergency once the violence began.
We're about to live in a world where a local Cheesesteak joint will need bouncers in the middle of the day, in a nicer part of the city at that, where there are tourists all around.
Fucking sad.
I was just at a park by the river and noticed 3 security guards standing on top of the ledge patrolling like we were in a warzone. Sad that this is our reality.
Dude there are cops inside target and Whole Foods in Logan square. Plus everything in the Target comes with at least a 5 minute wait to get someone to open up the locked up glass case for you. It’s already quite bizarre
which is very much the point. PPD doesn't like the city voting for Krasner, so they don't answer 911 and don't deal with quality of life issues until they force us to change our votes.
But that's also why people then take solving problems into their own hands which is what led to this sad ending.
So you're damned by police for them trying to send a message, and you get taken advantage of by bad people if you don't protect your property and hurt or killed if you step in to save your business.
How does one win in that situation?
you absolutely tell the fucking cry-baby police force to get their shit together. first of all, we don't like their fascism trying to force people into changing their votes. second, if they want to fuck our quality of life, we're getting rid of a lot of things the police budget pays for. those 25% fake disability claims? they're getting prosecuted for fraud. the horses are getting sold and that department is getting closed. police dirt bikes and motorcycle crews are getting severly cut.
can you imagine how insane it would be if you said, "so you're damned by the fire department for them trying to send a message! then your city gets burned if you don't personally put out all your own fires."
maybe i worded it wrong but i mean more like once it got aggressive go call the cops. he didn't need to call his cook for back up, especially if he didn't know how to fight.
people want to have this lala land BS that its all PPD hating on voters cause of krasner.
news flash, this was happening long before krasner.
fuck I called 911 back in '13 and it went to fucking NO ANSWER.
I have and I have had them come and other times no. but that's the alternative to screaming at someone yourself, no? or just ignore it and go inside. those were his options. he chose the worst one available. dont come at me bc hes' stupid.
Ironic that the situation started with the restaurant owner double-parked. He's allowed to inconvenience others with his actions, but God forbid someone sit at an empty table in front of his shop.
The owners absolutely gets the blame. He knows it too by declining to comment about the dudes death. Laid down his life for someone else's capital that's fucked up.
Oh, they do - they were the one that killed someone. BUT, it’s understandable to also say that if the owner hasn’t escalated the situation by yelling, taking away chairs, flipping the table and then threatening them with a bat (which is arguably more likely to be deadly than fists) maybe Brian would be alive today.
According to the linked article, the table flipping and bat threatening happened after Adams had received the fatal blows to his skull. I think the owner's bat-waving might have been a panicked but understandable reaction to someone physically assaulting his employee. I still agree that the owner should have realized that the asshole wasn't going to vacate his table without a fight -- de-escalation is almost always the correct response.
Yeah, I’m not entirely sure of the timeline. Again, I don’t think it was the owner’s FAULT but his behavior clearly was a contributing factor. These guys could’ve even had guns and hurt or killed more than one person. All the tables were empty except for the one they were sitting at and in all likelihood they would’ve been done eating and had moved on in less than half an hour (and probably less than that). If there were a ton of customers waiting for outdoor seating, that would be one thing, but there weren’t.
Smartest thing he can do is not comment. He will be sued by the family. It's a shame that the legal best interest has to come before humanity, but that's the country we live in.
Or maybe he feels guilty for it happening to the employee.
He probably asked the employee kindly to help, and the guy jumped in, from the article the employee was super helpful and loved working there.
It's not like he threw him out there and forced him to get rid of the douchebag knowing the guy was dangerous.
> Jeff Bergman, owner of Big Ass Slices, declined to comment.
> “I don’t think it’s the world’s business what happened to Brian,” he said.
That... Is not a good quote
The quote from the boss doesn’t sound too “kind” to me; he refused to comment and said, “I don’t think it’s the world’s business what happened to Brian.” Like it’s Brian’s fault he got repeatedly punched in the head after his boss riled these dudes up by confronting them with a bat and then starting to take the chairs away from their table.
I mean, in all actuality, it's not the world's business. It sounds to me like he's just feeling distraught and guilty and wants some privacy for him and the kid's family.
Well I’m not sure if you read the article but a crime was committed here so yes it absolutely is the world’s business. Fortunately we live in a country where crimes are addressed publicly and not swept under the rug. Especially if the owner may have had some culpability…
No shit a crime was committed. The authorities investigated it, and if the owner had any fault, they'll be the ones to decide that, not you or me or the news media. We know that he died and that's all we need to know for now, we're not entitled to the details until they become public interest. I for one am against news media sensationalizing a tragedy.
That's a lot of assumptions though right?
It's a traumatizing event to say the least for folks, and he has some guilt for asking for the help.
Plus there are legal issues to face. He probably doesn't want any comments on the record and give family some privacy.
Maybe I'm a clown for not thinking every business owner is scum, but I will choose to believe he's not until I get more info.
That’s not the order portrayed in the article - in the article it goes chairs, cheesesteak, punches, bat
>He takes a chair from the man’s table and moves it to another table. The man lunges at Bergman. Bergman removes another chair from the table.
>Then Adams reaches for the man’s cheesesteak. *The man punches Adams several times*. He swings at Bergman but misses. Bergman flips over the table, scattering the man’s food. *Bergman retrieves a bat from the restaurant.* Adams takes a few steps toward the restaurant and collapses at its door.
I’m sure he is heartbroken, and I know this must be a very hard time for him, and empathize with that, but I also hope he’s able to look at what lead up to this and maybe make some changes within himself. It’s not his “fault” but he hopefully can learn that escalating the situation so extremely, just because they were sitting at one of their tables when all the others were empty, directly lead to a situation where someone was killed.
Based on the owner’s “no comment” comment, it is likely that he knows his business and money are at risk of a civil suit from the family. Unfortunately I wouldn’t be surprised if he closes up shop and ducks out of town. That happens often in situations like these.
I was going to say, he doesn’t want “the world to know what happened to Brian” because, based on the video description, he called Brian out there to handle the situation and he knows it makes him look terrible.
What an absolutely senseless and terrible tragedy. Killing someone instead of just getting up and moving. The owner also comes across really poorly in this, his “I don’t think it’s the world’s business what happened to Brian” is pretty shitty considering he was the one who involved him in the situation AND he seems to have contributed to the fight by flipping the table and then getting a baseball bat (although seems this happened after the employee was repeatedly punched in the head).
>Christina Holland, general manager at Sonny’s, said it’s a reality of the neighborhood’s busy tourist area that people will sit at tables without having purchased anything from her business, but her staff lets it be.
>“We don’t kick people off our tables,” Holland said.
whether or not this is the right thing to do, its tasteless and inappropriate to say when asked to comment on the story, especially cause you are the business next door where the cheesesteak was purchased, and especially because someone was killed because they did not follow this line of thought.
like come one....read the room lady
EDIT: I confused the previous statements from the GM quoted here, and the the releases from the owner below.
I first caught on to this story from the Old Cilly Instagram account right after the victim passed. He was one of Sonny's former employees, though from before the previous owner passed in January. She released this statement on the account:
>Was it worth it?
>A few weeks ago, on a beautiful Saturday, the owner of a nearby Market Street pizza place (not Angelo/OhBrother) was so infuriated about two dudes eating cheesesteaks at one of his tables, he decided that he needed to repeatedly harass them about moving.
>And after he got in their face a third time, one of the men stood up and punched an employee the owner had summoned from inside, in the head.
>That employee, Brian James Adams, died a few days later from a ruptured aneurysm.
>We will never know from the video what the owner said to that man as he repeatedly stood over him yelling, pointing his finger in his face, but we do know that two men lost their lives that day and neither one of them was the man WHO COULDN’T WALK AWAY.
>Did I mention that all of his other tables were empty?
>If you think the owner of the pizza place is over there reflecting on how easily this could have been avoided, think again.
>He’s posted up over there making sure no one eats cheesesteaks at his tables.
>So here’s to hoping that Karma will be the beautiful bitch we all know she can be.
>P.S. We have never moved anyone from our tables. If you need to rest, a place to eat pizza, sushi, a bagged lunch, etc. you are welcome. We are members of a community for fucks sake and we always do our best to act like it.
>Here’s a pic from when Brian worked at Sonny’s Famous Steaks, he will be sorely missed.
>PLEASE SHARE his story and…
>WALK AWAY FFS
Accounts do seem to be that the Owner of BAS didn't have the best rapport with the public, but this comes off as really callous and tone deaf blaming the owner while somehow washing away that the responsibility of someone that still assaulted and hit Brian in the head with a bottler.
Apparently the previous owner of Sonny's died back in January. Not sure about her previous affiliation with the business prior, but she has deleted all of her previous personal post.
That appears to be a different person. The person quoted in this article is the manager of Sonny’s, Christina Holland. The quote from the Old Cilly account is from the owner, Ellen Mogell. Mogell is apparently also owner of Honey’s Sit-n-Eat.
Jeez fuck “two men lost their lives because the owner said some words!!” Is the most insane shit ive ever read, as if the dude that killed the employee is an animal that obviously would kill when lightly provoked, so is not to blame
i read it as there stuff going between the owner and the person sitting down, but then I saw "Adams reaches for the man’s cheesesteak. The man punches Adams several times". I think that what really set the guy off.
If it's true that the owner dude had this toxic male streak and was treating the guy (the one who ended up attacking) the way she described and that he regularly engaged in running people off in an aggressive way, it's the kind of thing that when you see it you think "this guy is escalating shit and it's going to end badly one day", and when that day comes you don't feel good about it but you want people to see, right when emotions are high, that this shit is avoidable.
But it's also possible she's just a spiteful c*nt.
What an disgusting dingleberry asshole of a person. Especially defending the guy who murdered someone over a seat that he had no legitimate right to sit at. Never mind the "members of community" bullshit, especially if it's common that their tables are spilling over to others and they are constantly leaning on others for their own benefit and then wishing bad karma on them when they don't just shut up and take it.
Awful.
One commenter seems to believe the manager who gave the Inquirer that quote and the owner who made the other statement are different people. My comment was just in regard to the context of the article alone.
They are and I had them confused. The GM of Sonny's statement from the article is more toned down and intent is harder to decipher. The owner of Sonny's is pretty adamant on her thoughts.
The neighborhood group has been weirdly insistent on blaming this nearly solely on the business owner rather than, you know, the guy who hit and killed the employee. It’s bizarre.
Yea, it has been bizarre.
OldCilly has a little bit of "West Willy lite" to it, but just not getting this one outside of the demo of those involved. Only thing I can think of is the guy really wasn't well liked, but even so this is absurd.
A reporter spoke to her for some length of time and CHOSE to include that particular quote. We have no clue what the context of that comment was.
This was tasteless on the part of the reporter.
EDIT: I confused the statements from the GM above and the owner. The owner has been spewing stuff about the BAS slices owner since the incident.
https://old.reddit.com/r/philadelphia/comments/1d2gfjj/an_old_city_restaurant_worker_was_killed_in_an/l60wprr/
Yeah, and remember, he worked for them too - it's probably safe to say both she and the staff cared about the guy and she's understandably upset and pissed too and when you are in that state your words are not necessarily always perfectly diplomatic. Plus, I get the impression he hasn't always been an easy neighbor.
My understanding is that the issue that a lot of folks have with the BAS owner is that he has been very flippant since this happened, and refused to close on the day of the funeral for the staff to attend. I hope they all walked out.
Bergman shouldn't have gotten Adams involved, he is partially responsible for what happened. Had he showed proper leadership and not been a hothead Adams would likely still be alive.
Shit, he refused to close on the day of the funeral? At the VERY least he should've been there himself and allowed anyone that wanted to go to go, and if that meant there wasn't enough staff to keep the store open, then that's what it meant.
why did the owner bring this guy out there to remove chairs and have him take the guys food from the table? what possible good outcome did he actually think was going to happen? in this day and age just call 911 to remove them and go back inside.
Are we also forgetting that there was national uproar and riots when the police were called on two black dudes sitting in starbucks without purchasing anything? That was what, 4 years ago?
And that’s exactly what I’m saying, what did they expect the guy to do after his chair and cheesesteak is being taken from him??? They literally did more than just asked him to leave…. Again, I’m not condoning the suspect’s behavior but this all could’ve been prevented if the owner could’ve just left it alone or asked nicely. If the person doesn’t want to leave, then fuck it, let him finish his cheesesteak & he’ll move on!
i get they wanted that "hot real estate" of a seat. but in reality that guy would have scarfed that down and been on his way in less than 10 minutes. This guy happened to just beat this guy up and he died, my first assumption always is "he's got a weapon no thank you". Male egos really get in the way of good judgement I swear.
Yeah, and normally people are there for less than half an hour. If there were no empty chairs and there were customers trying to eat outside and these people were taking up seats, I would be more understanding of asking them to leave, otherwise, just let it go.
this is what every person from outside of the mid-atlantic thinks happens here. The worst part is that they're right. I tried to make a joke but this is still depressing :l
I’m not condoning the suspect’s behavior but the owner should’ve left the dude alone. I’m pretty sure all he wanted to do was to sit and eat his cheesesteak. The owner couldn’t stand the fact that a non-customer was using his outdoor seating area, so he had to go and bother him. I’ve been through this exact situation before, been yelled at instead of being asked nicely to please eat somewhere else. So im pretty sure the owner definitely started it, causing the suspect to lash out. I mean, by reading the article, it says the owner grabs his chair & Brian reaching for his cheesesteak ? Like cmon now.
The person who attacked and killed Adams was in the wrong. He's not a suspect, he clearly did what he did and this all was completely unnecessary. He could have just gotten something to drink to enjoy along with his cheese steak and then he would have been a customer.
Bergman and Adams handled this completely wrong, once the man refused to leave the premises they should have called the police on the guy who honestly was loitering. They did get aggressive and as noted in the article Adams wasn't hired as a bouncer and shouldn't have been in that position to begin with.
The fact that other businesses were allowing this to happen is a part of what contributed to the issue as well. You can't just let people do whatever they want to do. In a civilized society there are rules to follow plain and simple.
This is a weird take. It's fine with plenty of decent places to shop and eat. If you think this is neglect, there's a whole lot more of this city that you need to see.
Sounds like this dude was [previously arrested during a police raid in upstate New York](https://www.news10.com/news/four-arrested-after-police-raid-in-troy/) six years ago.
He was also arrested *last week* in New York for a burglary in November. [https://publicapps.troopers.ny.gov/media/TroopG/MediaThu1.pdf](https://publicapps.troopers.ny.gov/media/TroopG/MediaThu1.pdf)
Sounds like a real winner!
Weirdly, this dude is not only a violent convicted felon and now murderer, but also…a breeder of teacup yorkies, per his TikTok.
OOOPS! Let out on $0 bail with an appearance ticket!
His arrestee status says "Held - no bail." (It's not the guy at the top of the PDF.)
Jesus. Every state needs 3 strike laws for violent crimes and crimes in other states should count towards it. Violent anti-social idiots like this moron have no place in society and should be sequestered from it.
3 is too much. If you've been violent and assaulted innocent civilians, you should be jailed, period.
IIRC, he did something else in Philly relatively recently too. The name Klevitch-Gray looks/sounds very familiar
I saw this but the name is slightly different- so either the Inquirer got his name wrong, or it’s a different guy from Albany that’s the same age that has an incredibly similar name.
The Inquirer updated their spelling. It's the same dude.
Ah, ok - yeah, it seemed like it probably was. What a piece of work
[What a diverse group of dirtbags](https://www.oneidadispatch.com/2018/01/19/drugs-guns-seized-four-arrested-after-troy-raid/)
Went to school with Brian, he was a nice dude. What a senseless tragedy
Thee are a million other places to sit and eat a cheesesteak in old city, yet this person decided to KILL someone over a seat? People like this deserve jail for life there is simply no defense here. Hope that spot and cheesesteak was worth it because that’s the last decent meal and peace he’s getting for a long time
Literally across the street is a park.
There’s no reason this should have escalated even close to this level at all.
Absolutely, also the article itself is misleading as well. Brian didn't die over a cheese steak he died because his boss sucks, he didn't exercise self control either plus the person who killed him is an idiot. Three grown men being absolutely foolish and it's a real shame. Sure you can be in the right, but sometimes it's best to just back off because there are crazy people out there that will harm you for little or no reason at all so it's just not worth the risk.
agreed. the article does acknowledge that a little bit. it's mentioned osha is investigating, and there is an interview with sonny's mgr about not confronting people eating on outside dining tables.
Very sad. A reminder to all workers out there: your life is worth more than a shit job. Your boss isn't going to deal with the aftermath, you are. If you get the chance, which as we see, sadly doesn't always happen.
If I had a good relationship with the owner and I was kindly asked for help, especially if the owner was older I think I would have stepped in to help too. My parents used to own a business and I would step in to deal with stuff like this. My dad was in his 50s at the time, and in no condition to deal with people like that. Never chased people after they were off the property but on-site was fair game.
He should’ve assessed the risk before asking for anyone’s help. If he’d already asked the person to move multiple times, and they refused, then he should (as any reasonable adult would) have known it would only escalate from there. Business owners and managers pick their battles every day for exactly this reason. For the safety of their employees
It's easy to say in retrospect, but moments like these happen fast. Emotions flare up, etc... Giving advice to others who might find themselves in similar situations is good, but let's not blame the victim. This is a senseless tragedy
Oh, def not blaming the victim. When I was saying “he,” I meant the manager who called the guy out to the situation. Re-reading that I totally see how it sounds like I’m talking about the victim
Oh I see, my bad
Brian was a good dude. This did not need to happen. I hope all parties responsible are held accountable, including his boss.
That entitled douchebag is about to learn what it's like to not have rights for a long time.
What an absolutely senseless death. It sounds like the owner is partially responsible for bringing the kid into the situation at all. What a shame
If you’re the owner why the hell do you bring your employee into it.
For muscle. He grabbed a young kid to back him up
When he had a bat he could’ve just grabbed instead
I hope the family sues the owner over this.
I can't blame the owner if he needed backup. At the end of the day, it's his business he has the right to protect the business. I'm sure the employee was more than willing to help too based on the article. I probably would have if that was me as well. Unfortunately things like this are reasons why Lulu and other stores are allowing people to steal stuff and not having employees intervene.
I can. He should have just went inside and called 911 not had his employee snatch chairs and food from them.
You ever call 911 for a non emergency? The dude trespassing and sitting on a chair outside wasn't gonna get solved for in 5 mins. It only becomes an emergency once the violence began.
yeah 99.999% of annoying patron issues are solved with bouncers. It's not rational or reasonable to call the police any time there is an issue.
We're about to live in a world where a local Cheesesteak joint will need bouncers in the middle of the day, in a nicer part of the city at that, where there are tourists all around. Fucking sad.
I was just at a park by the river and noticed 3 security guards standing on top of the ledge patrolling like we were in a warzone. Sad that this is our reality.
Dude there are cops inside target and Whole Foods in Logan square. Plus everything in the Target comes with at least a 5 minute wait to get someone to open up the locked up glass case for you. It’s already quite bizarre
which is very much the point. PPD doesn't like the city voting for Krasner, so they don't answer 911 and don't deal with quality of life issues until they force us to change our votes.
But that's also why people then take solving problems into their own hands which is what led to this sad ending. So you're damned by police for them trying to send a message, and you get taken advantage of by bad people if you don't protect your property and hurt or killed if you step in to save your business. How does one win in that situation?
you absolutely tell the fucking cry-baby police force to get their shit together. first of all, we don't like their fascism trying to force people into changing their votes. second, if they want to fuck our quality of life, we're getting rid of a lot of things the police budget pays for. those 25% fake disability claims? they're getting prosecuted for fraud. the horses are getting sold and that department is getting closed. police dirt bikes and motorcycle crews are getting severly cut. can you imagine how insane it would be if you said, "so you're damned by the fire department for them trying to send a message! then your city gets burned if you don't personally put out all your own fires."
Fire the police force and hire back the ones willing to do their job
They’re union
maybe i worded it wrong but i mean more like once it got aggressive go call the cops. he didn't need to call his cook for back up, especially if he didn't know how to fight.
people want to have this lala land BS that its all PPD hating on voters cause of krasner. news flash, this was happening long before krasner. fuck I called 911 back in '13 and it went to fucking NO ANSWER.
I have and I have had them come and other times no. but that's the alternative to screaming at someone yourself, no? or just ignore it and go inside. those were his options. he chose the worst one available. dont come at me bc hes' stupid.
I'm sure he didn't expect anyone to be seriously hurt but it was a foolish thing to do.
Ironic that the situation started with the restaurant owner double-parked. He's allowed to inconvenience others with his actions, but God forbid someone sit at an empty table in front of his shop.
The owners absolutely gets the blame. He knows it too by declining to comment about the dudes death. Laid down his life for someone else's capital that's fucked up.
I mean, I think the person who killed the worker gets the blame, but maybe that’s just me.
Oh, they do - they were the one that killed someone. BUT, it’s understandable to also say that if the owner hasn’t escalated the situation by yelling, taking away chairs, flipping the table and then threatening them with a bat (which is arguably more likely to be deadly than fists) maybe Brian would be alive today.
According to the linked article, the table flipping and bat threatening happened after Adams had received the fatal blows to his skull. I think the owner's bat-waving might have been a panicked but understandable reaction to someone physically assaulting his employee. I still agree that the owner should have realized that the asshole wasn't going to vacate his table without a fight -- de-escalation is almost always the correct response.
Yeah, I’m not entirely sure of the timeline. Again, I don’t think it was the owner’s FAULT but his behavior clearly was a contributing factor. These guys could’ve even had guns and hurt or killed more than one person. All the tables were empty except for the one they were sitting at and in all likelihood they would’ve been done eating and had moved on in less than half an hour (and probably less than that). If there were a ton of customers waiting for outdoor seating, that would be one thing, but there weren’t.
Smartest thing he can do is not comment. He will be sued by the family. It's a shame that the legal best interest has to come before humanity, but that's the country we live in.
Or maybe he feels guilty for it happening to the employee. He probably asked the employee kindly to help, and the guy jumped in, from the article the employee was super helpful and loved working there. It's not like he threw him out there and forced him to get rid of the douchebag knowing the guy was dangerous.
> Jeff Bergman, owner of Big Ass Slices, declined to comment. > “I don’t think it’s the world’s business what happened to Brian,” he said. That... Is not a good quote
The quote from the boss doesn’t sound too “kind” to me; he refused to comment and said, “I don’t think it’s the world’s business what happened to Brian.” Like it’s Brian’s fault he got repeatedly punched in the head after his boss riled these dudes up by confronting them with a bat and then starting to take the chairs away from their table.
I mean, in all actuality, it's not the world's business. It sounds to me like he's just feeling distraught and guilty and wants some privacy for him and the kid's family.
Well I’m not sure if you read the article but a crime was committed here so yes it absolutely is the world’s business. Fortunately we live in a country where crimes are addressed publicly and not swept under the rug. Especially if the owner may have had some culpability…
No shit a crime was committed. The authorities investigated it, and if the owner had any fault, they'll be the ones to decide that, not you or me or the news media. We know that he died and that's all we need to know for now, we're not entitled to the details until they become public interest. I for one am against news media sensationalizing a tragedy.
That's a lot of assumptions though right? It's a traumatizing event to say the least for folks, and he has some guilt for asking for the help. Plus there are legal issues to face. He probably doesn't want any comments on the record and give family some privacy. Maybe I'm a clown for not thinking every business owner is scum, but I will choose to believe he's not until I get more info.
That’s not the order portrayed in the article - in the article it goes chairs, cheesesteak, punches, bat >He takes a chair from the man’s table and moves it to another table. The man lunges at Bergman. Bergman removes another chair from the table. >Then Adams reaches for the man’s cheesesteak. *The man punches Adams several times*. He swings at Bergman but misses. Bergman flips over the table, scattering the man’s food. *Bergman retrieves a bat from the restaurant.* Adams takes a few steps toward the restaurant and collapses at its door.
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We know that the owner confronted the guy twice on his own, the kid getting the brunt of it was bad luck if we’re being honest
I am friends with the owner. He is the nicest man and loves his employees. I can tell you that he is absolutely heartbroken that this happened.
I’m sure he is heartbroken, and I know this must be a very hard time for him, and empathize with that, but I also hope he’s able to look at what lead up to this and maybe make some changes within himself. It’s not his “fault” but he hopefully can learn that escalating the situation so extremely, just because they were sitting at one of their tables when all the others were empty, directly lead to a situation where someone was killed.
Can you share more of your inside information? All I got was the newspaper article, your comments clearly show you know more.
I’m on the Old Cilly Page on FB - they also have an instagram- that’s where I originally heard about this.
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Based on the owner’s “no comment” comment, it is likely that he knows his business and money are at risk of a civil suit from the family. Unfortunately I wouldn’t be surprised if he closes up shop and ducks out of town. That happens often in situations like these.
I was going to say, he doesn’t want “the world to know what happened to Brian” because, based on the video description, he called Brian out there to handle the situation and he knows it makes him look terrible.
But not as terrible as the murderer. Nobody forced that guy to sit at that table or to lay hands on anyone.
Yes, I agree.
What an absolutely senseless and terrible tragedy. Killing someone instead of just getting up and moving. The owner also comes across really poorly in this, his “I don’t think it’s the world’s business what happened to Brian” is pretty shitty considering he was the one who involved him in the situation AND he seems to have contributed to the fight by flipping the table and then getting a baseball bat (although seems this happened after the employee was repeatedly punched in the head).
>Christina Holland, general manager at Sonny’s, said it’s a reality of the neighborhood’s busy tourist area that people will sit at tables without having purchased anything from her business, but her staff lets it be. >“We don’t kick people off our tables,” Holland said. whether or not this is the right thing to do, its tasteless and inappropriate to say when asked to comment on the story, especially cause you are the business next door where the cheesesteak was purchased, and especially because someone was killed because they did not follow this line of thought. like come one....read the room lady
EDIT: I confused the previous statements from the GM quoted here, and the the releases from the owner below. I first caught on to this story from the Old Cilly Instagram account right after the victim passed. He was one of Sonny's former employees, though from before the previous owner passed in January. She released this statement on the account: >Was it worth it? >A few weeks ago, on a beautiful Saturday, the owner of a nearby Market Street pizza place (not Angelo/OhBrother) was so infuriated about two dudes eating cheesesteaks at one of his tables, he decided that he needed to repeatedly harass them about moving. >And after he got in their face a third time, one of the men stood up and punched an employee the owner had summoned from inside, in the head. >That employee, Brian James Adams, died a few days later from a ruptured aneurysm. >We will never know from the video what the owner said to that man as he repeatedly stood over him yelling, pointing his finger in his face, but we do know that two men lost their lives that day and neither one of them was the man WHO COULDN’T WALK AWAY. >Did I mention that all of his other tables were empty? >If you think the owner of the pizza place is over there reflecting on how easily this could have been avoided, think again. >He’s posted up over there making sure no one eats cheesesteaks at his tables. >So here’s to hoping that Karma will be the beautiful bitch we all know she can be. >P.S. We have never moved anyone from our tables. If you need to rest, a place to eat pizza, sushi, a bagged lunch, etc. you are welcome. We are members of a community for fucks sake and we always do our best to act like it. >Here’s a pic from when Brian worked at Sonny’s Famous Steaks, he will be sorely missed. >PLEASE SHARE his story and… >WALK AWAY FFS Accounts do seem to be that the Owner of BAS didn't have the best rapport with the public, but this comes off as really callous and tone deaf blaming the owner while somehow washing away that the responsibility of someone that still assaulted and hit Brian in the head with a bottler. Apparently the previous owner of Sonny's died back in January. Not sure about her previous affiliation with the business prior, but she has deleted all of her previous personal post.
That appears to be a different person. The person quoted in this article is the manager of Sonny’s, Christina Holland. The quote from the Old Cilly account is from the owner, Ellen Mogell. Mogell is apparently also owner of Honey’s Sit-n-Eat.
Damn, you're right I confused the two. I'll edit.
Jeez fuck “two men lost their lives because the owner said some words!!” Is the most insane shit ive ever read, as if the dude that killed the employee is an animal that obviously would kill when lightly provoked, so is not to blame
i read it as there stuff going between the owner and the person sitting down, but then I saw "Adams reaches for the man’s cheesesteak. The man punches Adams several times". I think that what really set the guy off.
For sure, but that still feels animalistic to me; I expect a bear to try and kill me if I touch its food, not a human
If it's true that the owner dude had this toxic male streak and was treating the guy (the one who ended up attacking) the way she described and that he regularly engaged in running people off in an aggressive way, it's the kind of thing that when you see it you think "this guy is escalating shit and it's going to end badly one day", and when that day comes you don't feel good about it but you want people to see, right when emotions are high, that this shit is avoidable. But it's also possible she's just a spiteful c*nt.
What an disgusting dingleberry asshole of a person. Especially defending the guy who murdered someone over a seat that he had no legitimate right to sit at. Never mind the "members of community" bullshit, especially if it's common that their tables are spilling over to others and they are constantly leaning on others for their own benefit and then wishing bad karma on them when they don't just shut up and take it. Awful.
The reporter could have specifically asked about their policy on that when interviewing her. I didn’t take it as she said it unprompted.
She has been on a soap box blaming the BAS since the incident. See my post above.
One commenter seems to believe the manager who gave the Inquirer that quote and the owner who made the other statement are different people. My comment was just in regard to the context of the article alone.
They are and I had them confused. The GM of Sonny's statement from the article is more toned down and intent is harder to decipher. The owner of Sonny's is pretty adamant on her thoughts.
Sorry, your comment is far too reasonable.
The neighborhood group has been weirdly insistent on blaming this nearly solely on the business owner rather than, you know, the guy who hit and killed the employee. It’s bizarre.
Yea, it has been bizarre. OldCilly has a little bit of "West Willy lite" to it, but just not getting this one outside of the demo of those involved. Only thing I can think of is the guy really wasn't well liked, but even so this is absurd.
You can blame the psycho and the cowardly owner who sent an employee out to deal with the psycho. Not mutually exclusive positions.
A reporter spoke to her for some length of time and CHOSE to include that particular quote. We have no clue what the context of that comment was. This was tasteless on the part of the reporter.
EDIT: I confused the statements from the GM above and the owner. The owner has been spewing stuff about the BAS slices owner since the incident. https://old.reddit.com/r/philadelphia/comments/1d2gfjj/an_old_city_restaurant_worker_was_killed_in_an/l60wprr/
Can't agree. Her position puts the safety of her employees first. The owner of Big Ass Slices did not, and one of his employees died for it.
Yeah, and remember, he worked for them too - it's probably safe to say both she and the staff cared about the guy and she's understandably upset and pissed too and when you are in that state your words are not necessarily always perfectly diplomatic. Plus, I get the impression he hasn't always been an easy neighbor.
My understanding is that the issue that a lot of folks have with the BAS owner is that he has been very flippant since this happened, and refused to close on the day of the funeral for the staff to attend. I hope they all walked out.
The obituary says the funeral isn’t until this Saturday.
Maybe it was informal memorial or maybe they are not closing this upcoming Saturday. For whatever reason, the staff is NOT happy.
Bergman shouldn't have gotten Adams involved, he is partially responsible for what happened. Had he showed proper leadership and not been a hothead Adams would likely still be alive.
Shit, he refused to close on the day of the funeral? At the VERY least he should've been there himself and allowed anyone that wanted to go to go, and if that meant there wasn't enough staff to keep the store open, then that's what it meant.
So sad
People gotta let their ego go. It’s not worth getting into arguments over little things like this.
Sad story. His fiancée being visually impaired too, woof. Awful.
why did the owner bring this guy out there to remove chairs and have him take the guys food from the table? what possible good outcome did he actually think was going to happen? in this day and age just call 911 to remove them and go back inside.
Except that the police won’t come.
Are we also forgetting that there was national uproar and riots when the police were called on two black dudes sitting in starbucks without purchasing anything? That was what, 4 years ago?
> just call 911 to remove them and go back inside. What Philadelphia do you live in? They would still be there today.
And that’s exactly what I’m saying, what did they expect the guy to do after his chair and cheesesteak is being taken from him??? They literally did more than just asked him to leave…. Again, I’m not condoning the suspect’s behavior but this all could’ve been prevented if the owner could’ve just left it alone or asked nicely. If the person doesn’t want to leave, then fuck it, let him finish his cheesesteak & he’ll move on!
i get they wanted that "hot real estate" of a seat. but in reality that guy would have scarfed that down and been on his way in less than 10 minutes. This guy happened to just beat this guy up and he died, my first assumption always is "he's got a weapon no thank you". Male egos really get in the way of good judgement I swear.
Yeah, and normally people are there for less than half an hour. If there were no empty chairs and there were customers trying to eat outside and these people were taking up seats, I would be more understanding of asking them to leave, otherwise, just let it go.
this is what every person from outside of the mid-atlantic thinks happens here. The worst part is that they're right. I tried to make a joke but this is still depressing :l
It’s Philly, safe to say if you confront someone you might get assaulted or potentially killed.
He was from Albany, NY.
Where did the crime happen?
In Philly. I don’t blame Philly for every out-of-towner’s actions here though.
I’m not condoning the suspect’s behavior but the owner should’ve left the dude alone. I’m pretty sure all he wanted to do was to sit and eat his cheesesteak. The owner couldn’t stand the fact that a non-customer was using his outdoor seating area, so he had to go and bother him. I’ve been through this exact situation before, been yelled at instead of being asked nicely to please eat somewhere else. So im pretty sure the owner definitely started it, causing the suspect to lash out. I mean, by reading the article, it says the owner grabs his chair & Brian reaching for his cheesesteak ? Like cmon now.
The person who attacked and killed Adams was in the wrong. He's not a suspect, he clearly did what he did and this all was completely unnecessary. He could have just gotten something to drink to enjoy along with his cheese steak and then he would have been a customer. Bergman and Adams handled this completely wrong, once the man refused to leave the premises they should have called the police on the guy who honestly was loitering. They did get aggressive and as noted in the article Adams wasn't hired as a bouncer and shouldn't have been in that position to begin with. The fact that other businesses were allowing this to happen is a part of what contributed to the issue as well. You can't just let people do whatever they want to do. In a civilized society there are rules to follow plain and simple.
That part of Market Street is depressing. The vibe, the businesses, the clientele. The whole thing reeks of neglect and piss.
This is a weird take. It's fine with plenty of decent places to shop and eat. If you think this is neglect, there's a whole lot more of this city that you need to see.
I walk through this area fairly regularly and have to disagree. It’s really not that bad