A 21-year-old man is charged with robbing a Piada restaurant worker in a Woodbury parking lot after the worker would not apologize for a joke, according to the criminal complaint.
Mekhi Robert Bryant is charged in Washington County District Court with simple robbery. The complaint was filed Nov. 2.
According to the complaint, Woodbury police were sent to the restaurant at 11:07 p.m. Oct. 29. The worker told officers he had just finished his shift and was sitting in his vehicle when Bryant parked a Tesla across his exit. The worker said Bryant and another man got out and demanded he apologize to a coworker for a joke he had made earlier.
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When the worker refused, Bryant told him to empty his pockets, the complaint says. The worker refused again, and Bryant pulled what looked like a black handgun from his waistband and hit him on the right side of the face, according to the complaint. Bryant then took the worker’s Apple Watch from his pocket.
Bryant and two others drove off in the Tesla, the complaint says. The worker followed onto Interstate 94 and told police. Officers later found the Tesla in Ramsey County. Bryant ran on foot and was found in a nearby yard with several electronic devices that appeared to have been thrown away, according to the complaint. The worker identified all three in the car.
Officers saw an injury on the right side of the worker’s face, the complaint says. On Oct. 31 the worker told police his watch had been tracked to Radio Drive near I-94, and a detective found it on the shoulder of the road.
