NORTH MIAMI BEACH, Fla. – A homeless Canadian living in South Florida, apparently not having it his way, is accused of attacking two Burger King employees — one of whom was a fellow senior. Police said he had just been trespassed from the restaurant the day prior.
John Joseph Gillis, 79, is facing one felony and two misdemeanor charges following his arrest for the incident, which authorities said happened Wednesday morning at the chain’s location at 233 NE 167th St. in North Miami Beach.
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According to an arrest report from the North Miami Beach Police Department, Gillis became “upset” after the worker, a senior, asked him to move from the restaurant’s patio so he could continue sweeping it.
Police said Gillis pushed the man to the ground.
The report states the worker then went into the restaurant to get his assistant manager and police said Gillis threw “cold coffee” on her when she came out to ask him to leave. According to police, she had trespassed him from the property on Tuesday after the two got into a verbal argument.
The coffee drenched the manager’s shirt and left the senior worker with a scratch to his elbow, police said.
Authorities said they found Gillis at a nearby Starbucks. Much of his statement to police was redacted from the report, but police said he told them he got into a verbal spat with the first worker because he “told him to throw away his coffee because he was cleaning.”
Police arrested Gillis on charges of battery on a person 65 or older, a third-degree felony, and two misdemeanor battery and trespassing counts.
Court records show a slew of run-ins with Miami-Dade law enforcement dating back to the late 1980s, mainly on trespassing charges.
Gillis, who’s also been known as “John Hugh Gillis” and “Joe Johnny Gillis,” received withheld adjudication following a 1989 arrest by what was then the Metro-Dade Police Department on charges of resisting arrest with violence and assault on a police officer.
He was convicted of battery on a law enforcement officer following a 1998 arrest by Miami-Dade police. He’s also been convicted of indecent exposure.
Gillis was being held in the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center as of Thursday, with a bond amount listed as “to be set.”