What would you do…if you want a pizza at 11:40 pm on a Sunday, don’t have any money to buy one—and you have alcoholic biochemistry? (TAR Lite #37)
Would you:
1. Borrow some money and go find an open pizza shop?
2. Ask a friend to go pick up a pizza for you?
3. Instead, scrounge up something in your kitchen?
4. Go to Papa John’s and demand free pizza and, when an employee says “no,” assault him, steal a few pies and run off?
Congratulations if you selected # 4, which is what Michael Joseph Runko, 28, did after his pizza munchies took possession of him. Upon leaving the shop, he encountered a delivery man from whom he demanded money. When this victim refused, Runko struck him and threw a brick at his delivery vehicle. He spat and swung at arresting troopers, who committed him to the local county prison. He was charged with robbery, aggravated and simple assault, resisting arrest, harassment, theft, disorderly conduct and public drunkenness. That the drunkenness isn’t listed as the cause of the problems demonstrates the reporter doesn’t connect the dots between addiction and misbehaviors, however varied those misbehaviors may be.
Unsurprisingly, this is not the first time Runko has been in trouble with the law. Last year he was charged with DUI and marijuana possession. It’s high time for the judge to impose appropriate consequences, which would include random and regular drug testing as part of any sentence. Only then will Runko again appear as and actually be the nice young man who got married only three years ago in this picture.