A New Orleans pizza delivery man is still having trouble seeing after a robber threw bleach in his eyes last week in an effort to steal a pie he ordered.
alexis.jpgTerrence 'Baby Tee' Alexis
That's the scene a police report paints of the events that led to the arrest of Terrence "Baby Tee" Alexis.
New Orleans police were led to 19-year-old Alexis through several sources, the report said. Officers arrested him Friday at the 2nd District police station in the 4300 block of Magazine Street and jailed him on charges of simple robbery and second-degree battery.
Last Thursday about 2:30 p.m., the Domino's Pizza delivery man, whom police did not identify, pulled up to a house in the 8600 block of Palm Street in Hollygrove. He walked to the front door and began to knock when a man standing nearby said he lived there. The man, identified in the police report as Alexis, told the driver to keep knocking and someone would answer.
Then, unexpectedly, Alexis allegedly splashed a cup of bleach into the delivery man's eyes, blinding him, and stole the pizza, police said.
The delivery man ran back to his car. "You know you're not supposed to be back here, white boy!" Alexis allegedly yelled as the man pulled away.
A day after the incident, Detective Kevin Williams went to Alexis' house in the 3500 block of Monroe Street, around the corner from the delivery location, and spoke to Alexis' parents, who put Williams in touch with their son, police said.
The 4-foot, 11-inch, 309-pound Alexis agreed to meet with investigators at the 2nd District station on Magazine Street. It was there, according to the police report, that he confessed that he planned to fling bleach in the delivery man's face as a way to steal the pizza. Alexis told police he had an accomplice, identified in the police report as Jacoby Panier. Police on Thursday did not return phone calls seeking information about a second suspect in the case.
Police told the Uptown Messenger, a neighborhood news website, that the driver's blindness is believed to be temporary, but that on Thursday he still could not see. Attempts to contact the pizza store's owner were unsuccessful Thursday night.
The episode was not Alexis' first brush with the law.
Court records show he was arrested and booked in July with aggravated assault, illegally carrying a concealed weapon and aggravated assault with a firearm. Records show that in September he took an "Alford plea," meaning he did not admit he was guilty but conceded that the strong evidence could have led to his conviction.
Criminal District Court Judge Laurie White gave Alexis credit for time served, meaning he was released at that time after having spent 54 days in jail, the records show.
Each of the charges Alexis pleaded to carries a maximum sentence of six months in prison, according to Orleans Parish District Attorney's office spokesman Chris Bowman. Asked to comment on the sentence imposed on Alexis, Bowman said: "Sentencing is up to the judge."
Alexis could face up to a combined total of 12 years in prison if he is convicted of the two most recent charges.
