Pittsburgh restaurant worker accused of spiking co-worker's drink with degreaser
A Downtown Pittsburgh sports bar employee is accused of spiking a co-worker’s drink two weeks ago with pipe degreaser, causing co-worker’s upper and lower lips to turn red and feel a burning sensation, Pittsburgh police said.
Gregory Evans Jr., 30, of Pittsburgh’s North Side, is accused of putting the degreaser into strawberry tea that the cook at Redbeards Sports Bar and Grill, 144 Sixth St., had got for himself around 3:30 p.m. Aug. 7, according to the criminal complaint.
The cook stepped away from his drink and when he returned to drink the tea, he noticed something smelled and tasted bad and the drink had little white bubbles in it. He spit out the drink and dumped the beverage from the glass, according to the complaint.
The manager, at the request of the cook, reviewed video of the bar and saw Evans pour a heavy duty degreaser into a cup, then pour the substance into the cook’s drink. The manger went to police with the video evidence, which showed the product was a heavy duty degreaser, according to the criminal complaint.
The cook said he went to an area hospital to be examined.
Pittsburgh police charged Evans on Sunday with attempted homicide, two counts of aggravated assault, simple assault, criminal attempt and recklessly endangering another person in connect with the alleged poisoning.
Evans could not be reached for comment Monday. He had not been arraigned as of Monday night, according to online court records.
Joe Napsha is a TribLive reporter covering Irwin, North Huntingdon and the Norwin School District. He also writes about business issues. He grew up on Neville Island and has worked at the Trib since the early 1980s. He can be reached at jnapsha@triblive.com.
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