There is a curious charge in a case in Connecticut where Carmine Cervellino has been arrested for criminal threats for carving a watermelon in an allegedly aggressive way.
Cervellino is getting a divorce but the couple appears to still be living together. On July 4th, his wife went to police to report that Cervellino had drugs and marijuana in a toolbox. However, when the police arrived, the toolbox was gone and no charges were brought against him.
When the wife returned home, she said that she found a watermelon with a knife stuck in it. Cervellino then allegedly came in and started to carve the watermelon in “a passive-aggressive manner.” I am not sure what that looks like but, assuming Cervellino was hacking the melon, it remains a difficult basis upon which to build a criminal case. Yet, he is now charged with threatening and disorderly conduct.
The facts do not seen to fit a first degree charge so here is the second class misdemeanor language:
Sec. 53a-62. Threatening in the second degree: Class A misdemeanor. (a) A person is guilty of threatening in the second degree when: (1) By physical threat, such person intentionally places or attempts to place another person in fear of imminent serious physical injury, (2) such person threatens to commit any crime of violence with the intent to terrorize another person, or (3) such person threatens to commit such crime of violence in reckless disregard of the risk of causing such terror.
(b) Threatening in the second degree is a class A misdemeanor.
The use of melon carving alone would seem a weak basis for a charge, particularly when the couple is going through an obviously heated divorce. His attorney is likely to argue that the earlier effort to have him arrested reveals a pre-disposition of the wife to secure a charge against him. Conversely, the wife can say that the earlier call was a genuine allegation and the display with the melon was obviously designed to frighten her. That puts the court squarely in the middle of a messy divorce. There may be more facts that come to light but, if this case is entirely based on melon cutting, the prosecutor will have to get some admission from Cervellino to make a compelling case.
Source: NBC
I bet he also cut that watermelon in a RAAAAACIST manner. Watermelon is a racially hot button fruit. Fried chicken is a racially touchy poultry. It’s a can be a treacherous world if PC is allowed to prevail.
I’m not as smart as a lot of the people here. I just think the guy might have been trying to use the watermelon as pressure relief valve for his anger. Instead of hitting his wife he chops up the watermelon. That’s if what his wife is is saying is true. I don’t know how many times I have seen angry cooks (both men and women) do the same thing.
My ex-wife was an abusive control freak. If I didn’t do exactly what she said she would blow up and verbally abuse me and sometimes physically. I frequently came to the rescue of her adult daughter (my stepdaughter), calming the situation and interposing my body when necessary. I never once struck my ex-wife, though I have restrained her when the damage was getting too great. My personal opinion (based on my former marriage, 17 years) is that a lot of women start the violence and men finish it, because most men are physically stronger than women. Violence is wrong! Nobody should start it, men or women. A lot of what I said will probably seems dumb to you again I’m not too bright.