SOMERVILLE — On Sunday, Nov. 12, 2023, at about 3:56 p.m., Officers Roger Desrochers and David Ruf of the Somerville Police Department were dispatched to Zaruma Gold Coffee at 37 Woodbine Street following a report of an assault.
(The following account and quotations were taken from the printed Personnel Narrative of Officer Desrochers.)
“Before our arrival dispatch informed us that the reporting party stated that the employee chased him with scissors and dumped water on him,” Officer Descrochers said.
When the officers arrived on scene, they were met by the reporting party, a customer (whose name was redacted from the report). The customer said he ordered a coffee from the establishment, but was unhappy with how it was made, so he asked the owner if she could make the coffee to his liking.
“[The customer] stated, that at this point Vladislav Sinev stepped to the counter and told him to leave,” Officer Descrochers said. “[The customer] stood there shocked and several more times Sinev told him to ‘Get the f$ck out.’”
Sinev, 53, is a resident of 250 Vale Street in Chelsea.
The upset customer placed the cup of coffee on the counter without the lid, knocking it over. Some of the coffee spilt onto Sinev’s pants.
“Not happy with what just took place, Mr. Sinev chased [the customer] around the coffee shop with a pair of scissors that he had in his hand. [The customer] stated that he was scared due to that fact that Mr. Sinev was holding the scissors above his head,” Officer Desrochers said. “As the two made their way near the front door Mr. Sinev picked up a glass water dispenser and swung it in the direction of [the customer’s] head. [The customer] put his hands up to protect himself. The two then began to struggle with the dispenser causing the water to spill on both of them. Mr. Sinev then dropped the glass dispenser causing it to shatter.”
After shattering the dispenser, Sinev chased the customer out of the coffee shop with the scissors. When the customer managed to call 911, Sinev returned to the coffee shop.
Officer Ruf located the scissors on a counter to the left of the front door. The scissors were tagged and taken in by police as evidence.
The officers then spoke with two witnesses.
The first witness – who said he was with the customer – said he saw Sinev chase the man with a pair of scissors, attempt to strike him in the head with a glass water dispenser, and then chase him with the scissors out of the building.
The second witness was an employee of the coffee shop. She told police she saw the man knock his coffee cup over onto the counter, then she saw Sinev chase him around the store, but she couldn’t see anything else because she was behind the counter.
Based on the victim and witness statements, Sinev was arrested and charged with two counts of assault with a dangerous weapon (one for the scissors and another for the glass dispenser).
