Estimated read time: 1-2 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
BURBANK, Calif. — The rush to the sample tray at Costco can often be a bit dramatic, but one man's fight for a free sample landed him in jail.
Derrick Gharabighi could spend up to 11 years in prison for punching a 78-year-old fellow shopper in the face after the elderly man told him he had taken too many samples, according to the Los Angeles Times. The incident happened Sunday, when both men approached a station toting Nutella and waffles at a California Costco.
Gharabighi grabbed all the available samples on the tray just as the elderly man went to take one. That's when things got ugly.
"The victim told Mr. Gharabighi that he wanted a sample and he shouldn't take so many," Burbank Police Sgt. Claudio Losacco told the Times.
Apparently Gharabighi didn't like being told what to do. Witnesses told police that's when he turned and punched the man in the face. The man was taken to the hospital with a one-inch cut above his eye, according to the L.A. Times.
Gharabighi, on the other hand, was taken away in handcuffs. He was charged Tuesday with elder abuse and inflicting great bodily harm, the Times reports.
His bail is set at $50,000.
