A Hatboro woman accused of a bigoted “racially fueled tirade” against a Latino-owned pizzeria owner and staff last month, which was captured on video and shared internationally via social media, has been charged via summons with hate crimes by the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office.
Rita Bellew, 55, of Hatboro, a CPA, is facing charges of ethnic intimidation and harassment, according to WHYY.org, after she was seen on a video posted on TikTok that went on to garner more than 4.8 million views on Twitter spewing racist vitriol and berating Amy’s Family Pizzeria owner Omar Quiñonez and his staff on Feb. 23 after she disagreed with a Spanish-language program playing on the pizzeria’s television.
Bellew boasted that she was in Hatboro for 55 years and that her grandparents were from the town too.
“Guess what, motherf*****, you’re out of business. You want to have the Spanish on your TV?” she said in the video.
Quiñonez then asked her what was wrong.
“What’s wrong with that is you’re not American, dude,” Bellew said in the video, before cursing and demanding a refund, and promising she will get him and his business, located at 332 S. York Road, “the f*** out of town.” “F*** you, give me my money back. I’m not giving my money to some illegal immigrant. You’re in America; you’re supposed to have English. You have Spanish on your TV. That’s a f*** you to Americans, dude.”
Furthermore, according to what is on the video, Bellew called Quiñonez a “Mexican” and “little guy.” Bellew also accused the pizzeria employee of recording her because she was white.
“They’re calling me a racist because I am white,” Bellew said in the video.
“No, we’re calling you a racist because you’re a racist,” the worker said.
After police arrived on the scene at 5:55 p.m. for a disturbance call and handled the situation, Hatboro Police Officer Brett Paul handed Bellew back her money and told her she was not welcome at the pizzeria again.
“I’m too damn white,” she responded, per the affidavit.
Hatboro Police Department said Bellew was triggered by the Spanish broadcast.
“Police de-escalated the disturbance involving Bellew and learned that an employee video recorded Bellew prior to police arriving. The video shows Bellew berating the staff of the restaurant with a profane, racially fueled tirade,” police said in a press release.
It was only after she was charged with the summons that Bellew apologized for her behavior and insisted she was not a racist.
Bellew told WHYY that she was horrified and ashamed by how she acted at the pizzeria. She is now being harassed and threatened in public, she told WHYY.
“I’m very, very sorry,” she told WHYY News. “I wanted to go down there and apologize, but I was told that wasn’t a good idea.”
Bellew told WHYY News she was “emotionally unstable” and has a lot on her mind with recent breast cancer diagnoses and taking care of her sick father.
“It came out sideways and I took it out on innocent people that didn’t deserve it at all,” she told WHYY. “I deserve to be in trouble for this … What I did was very wrong, and I don’t want people to think that it’s okay.”
Since the incident, Amy’s Family Pizzeria’s business has surged, and has been inundated with orders and phone calls of support from all over the world.
Quiñonez told WHYY he has had calls from Germany, Poland, Spain, and South America. The Tuesday after the incident, the pizzeria had to close to catch up on its more than 400 orders.
The charges were filed Friday at the office of Magisterial District Judge Paul N. Leo and Bellew is required to answer the charges, police said.
A preliminary hearing and preliminary arraignment has been scheduled for April 5 at 1:45 p.m. in front of Judge Leo. If convicted on the ethnic intimidation charge — a third-degree misdemeanor — Bellew would face a sentence of up to 90 days in county jail and a fine of up to $5,000.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Tanner Beck. Court records do not show an attorney for Bellew at the time of publishing.
Read more on the incident and aftermath here.
All suspects and defendants are innocent until proven guilty. This story was compiled using court records and the affidavit of probable cause.
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