BLACK WOMAN DENIED USE OF PIZZA PARLOR PISSER

Pizza shop manager recorded in assault told police that woman was 'loud and disruptive'

By Elizabeth Behrman

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
January 14, 2018

A woman who was assaulted and thrown out of an Uptown pizza restaurant Friday night told Pittsburgh police she stopped there to use the restroom on her way home from a nearby bar.

Jade Martin, 34, told police she was drinking with a friend at Ace’s Deuce’s Lounge a few doors down from Pizza Milano on Fifth Avenue with a friend before leaving to catch a bus home around 7:30 p.m., according to a police report. When she missed the bus, she decided to stop in the pizza restaurant and was stopped by the manager.

The manager, Mahmut Yilmaz, 41, has since been charged with aggravated assault and simple assault after a video was posted online showing him telling Ms. Martin to leave, arguing with her and later tackling her and bashing her head on the floor. Ms. Martin will be arrested via summons, the report states, and charged with defiant trespass and disorderly conduct.

The video — which by Monday morning had been viewed more than 800,000 times — drew a small crowd of protesters to the restaurant Saturday outraged at the treatment of Ms. Martin.

According to the criminal complaint, Pittsburgh police officers were called to the restaurant Friday night after getting reports of a woman who refused to leave the restaurant. They spoke with Ms. Martin outside Pizza Milano shortly after the incident occurred and noted that she appeared disheveled, but unhurt. Investigators said she didn’t mention a physical altercation, and went home.

Mr. Yilmaz told police that he asked Ms. Martin to leave because she was bothering customers with “loud and disruptive” behavior, according to the report. Neither he nor other customers at the restaurant mentioned an altercation, either, the report states.

Officers were called several hours later to Mercy Hospital, where Ms. Martin was being treated for a headache following the incident with Mr. Yilmaz. She told police she was diagnosed with a concussion, the report shows, and didn’t remember much about the incident because she had been “very foggy” since then. Investigators said they referred her to a magistrate.

Later Saturday, police said they spoke with Ms. Martin via telephone and arranged for her to meet with detectives again to give a written statement about what happened at the restaurant Friday night, but she never showed up for the appointment. They left multiple voicemail messages for her, and while they waited for her to call back, police said they saw the video posted online.

The cell phone footage was posted to Facebook by Bria Janae, and captures the entire altercation from inside the restaurant.

In the video, Mr. Yilmaz confronts Ms. Martin. “Listen, you gotta go,” he said. He pushed her, and she can be heard saying repeatedly, “Push me again.” She dropped something, and bent over to pick it up. Ms. Martin then attempted to walk by Mr. Yilmaz, who grabbed her arm and pulled her back toward the door, shouting, “I said please!” He appears to headbutt her before pushing her to the ground and slamming her head against the floor repeatedly as he continues to shout, “I said please!” Ms. Martin was silent during the incident.

The video also captured customers’ protests, with kitchen staff running into the dining room to help remove Ms. Martin from the establishment.

Mr. Yilmaz also was called to the police station Saturday afternoon to provide an official account of what happened, the police report states.

He told police again that he was trying to prevent Ms. Martin from bothering customers. He had a mark on his forehead from the altercation, police said, and he told them he slipped causing him to lunge forward and hit his head as he was attempting to steer Ms. Martin out of the restaurant. Mr. Yilmaz said he could not remember whether he hit his head on the doorway or Ms. Martin’s face.

He also told investigators that he grabbed her hair and shook her head to get her attention while trying to stop the altercation, according to the report. Mr. Yilmaz told police he didn’t realize her head was hitting the floor each time.

Mr. Yilmaz’s bail was set at $5,000, court records show.