‘I Will Kill You! I Don’t Give a…!’: Boston Couple Hurls Racial Slurs and a Fence at Patio Diners, Then Hoses Them Down with Water. Now They Must Pay the Price
A Boston couple was arrested and hit with a slew of charges for allegedly hurling slurs, throwing a fence, and hosing down a group of people, including at least one child, on a restaurant patio because they were too noisy, according to authorities.
Facing a whopping 37 counts between them, including assault and battery, threatening to commit a crime, and civil rights violations, the accused husband and wife probably wished they had just stayed home that night. On May 27, both pleaded not guilty to all charges.
The incident unfolded on Memorial Day after Ariella Raso, 37, and Gregory Raso, 39, called police around 6:45 p.m. to report noise from a group of Latino customers at Tertulias Cafe, a small Colombian restaurant on Porter Street in East Boston.
The Rasos live next door to the cafe, which sits in a neighborhood known for its large Colombian expat community.
According to a news release from the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office, police responded to the complaint and told the couple they could call back about the alleged racket after the noise ordinance took effect at 11 p.m.
But within less than two hours, Boston police were back on the block, this time responding to a report of an assault in progress.
The news release detailed an account from one of the alleged victims, who said an argument broke out before things went haywire. “The Rasos complained about the noise and told the victims, who are Hispanic, to ‘get out of this country.’ They also used racial slurs and threatened to kill the victims,” stated the release.
Following the alleged slurs and death threats, a victim told police the couple broke off a piece of shared fencing between their property and the restaurant, and chucked it at the group, hitting a child and another person. They then wrangled a hose and sprayed all the victims, according to the District Attorney’s office.
But the Rasos paint a different picture.
According to the Boston Globe, police records show that the couple told authorities the patio diners “were the ones breaking the joint fence and throwing the pieces of wood,” and they grabbed the hose in self-defense. What’s more, when the assault was initially reported, it was Gregory Raso’s mother, Deborah Raso, on the phone telling police that 15 people were attacking her son, per the outlet.
But officers on the scene say they overheard the wife, Arielle, admitting to spraying the entire group and heard her yell, “I will kill you, I don’t give a [expletive],” then adding, “I’m [expletive] done with all those [multiple racial expletives].”
Arielle faces the more serious charge of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon on a child under 14, along with seven additional threatening charges, one for each victim. Both husband and wife were each charged with seven counts of assault and battery and seven civil rights violations, and Gregory picked up an additional assault and battery with a dangerous weapon charge.
“The assaults on this group were terrible alone, but the injection of such vile racial rhetoric makes this incident even more appalling,” said Suffolk District Attorney Kevin Hayden. “Our office will not — and our society must not — allow such actions to go unnoticed and unpunished.”
Bail was set at $750, and the Rasos were ordered to stay away from the café and to have no contact with the victims or any of the restaurant’s customers. Their pre-trial hearing is set for July 28.