Woman Charged In Assault Of Military Man Outside Pizzeria: Police

BERLIN, CT — A Southington woman has been charged with assault in connection with an incident where she was filmed berating a man in military fatigues outside a pizzeria in Berlin, according to police.

The incident happened outside the Central Pizza restaurant at 96 Mill St. on Sept. 11. A video of the incident was widely circulated on social media.

Lori Desjardins, 45, turned herself in at police headquarters on Thursday, according to Acting Police Chief Chris Ciuci.

Desjardins was charged with third-degree assault and second-degree breach of peace. She was released after posting a $10,000 bond with a court date of Sept. 23.

Desjardins is accused of physically assaulting a customer at a restaurant. Police said the incident was caught on video and widely shared on social media.

The video showed a woman berating a man in military fatigues and accusing him of wearing a fake uniform, according to NBC Connecticut.

The man in the video told NBC Connecticut that he is a student at the Naval Submarine School.

Police said Wednesday that feedback from the public led to Desjardins being identified as the suspect.

FOX 61 reported the sailor in the video was confirmed by U.S. Navy officials and a relative to be Sean Nolte Jr. of Pennsylvania. He is stationed in Groton and attending Naval Submarine School.

Nolte wrote about the incident in a post on Facebook on Saturday night.

"Tonight has been eventful to say the least....," he wrote. "I went to get a bite to eat off-base at a local pizza spot. As my friend is standing talking to her family; who currently owns this pizza spot, a woman walks in and is constantly staring back at me. As I am in uniform, I politely smile back.... The woman proceeds to walk in and out multiple times over the course of 10 minutes. Her food is ready, and she walks back in to retrieve her pizza... As she leaves, she looks at me and says 'Nice Smile' very sarcastically. I reply 'Thank You, have a nice day ma'am' and continue about my day. Not even 30 seconds later she comes marching back in, and yells at the Pizzeria staff 'He is a fake by the way, my husband is in the Army....' you can probably assume the rest. I proceed to attempt to prove that I am not a fake, even pulled out my VALID Military ID and showed it to her. She kept claiming that my Military ID is fake, and proceeds to show me her DEPENDENT MILITARY ID, and screams 'This is what your ID should look like.'. As I realized there was no persuading this woman that I am not a fake, I politely say 'Tell your husband thank you for his service for me, and have a nice day.' She storms out of the pizzeria, and storms right back in, progressively screaming at me 'You disgust me, you son of a bitch,' grabbing my uniform and throwing my cover on the ground, not aware that I am a real service member. In a last ditch effort to leave, she rushes towards me and slaps me in the left side of my face. Being in uniform, I must maintain professionalism, so I stand there and proceed to wish her a nice day.... Well, looks like some of our own people can't recognize authenticity when they see it."