Customer charged in fight over icing

Customer charged in fight over icing
By Christine McConville and Raakhee Mirchandani  |   Wednesday, February 23, 2011  |  http://www.bostonherald.com  |  Local Coverage

Photo by WHDH News

You say fondue, I say fondant – let’s call the cops.

That vocabulary debate over a birthday cake led to assault and battery charges against a Dorchester woman yesterday, according to authorities.

The clash began at about 7 p.m. Friday when a customer and her friend stopped at the posh Party Favors bakery in Coolidge Corner to buy a three-tiered “Yo Gabba Gabba”-themed cake.

The customer wanted to know: Will the cake have “fondue” icing?

“Fondant,” the clerk corrected her, according to a Brookline police report.

As it turned out, those were fighting words.

The customer’s friend, Rakeeda Ladawn Bogues, 21, fired back: “Fondue, fondant, who gives a (expletive). You’ve had an attitude the whole time,” Brookline police officer Dana Inchierca wrote in her report, based on accounts from witnesses.

After the clerk told Bogues to “relax,” Bogues responded: “I will kill you, (expletive). ... I will ... find you and I will kill you,” according to the report.

Bogues then used her TJMaxx bag to knock over a counter-top lollipop arrangement, cops said. And then, on her way out, she knocked over another display case, according to police.

“It looked like a freakin’ earthquake,” Party Favors owner John Pergantis said. “All over butter and sugar.”

Police caught up with Bogues and her pal minutes later, about a block away from the shop.

Bogues, who told police the incident was an accident, was arrested and charged with being a disorderly person, assault, threats to commit a crime, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and malicious damage to property. She pleaded not guilty in Brookline District Court yesterday morning.

“I feel bad she got arraigned. I feel terrible,” Pergantis said. “But she has to realize that people just can’t do that and get away with it, threaten someone’s life and not be liable for her actions. The girl is 21, I heard. And now she has a record. I feel terrible about that.”

The still-shaken bakery clerk was back behind the counter yesterday.

“It was an unnecessary altercation,” she said. “Some people just get frustrated quickly.”

Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1318738