Thrown banana starts altercation inside Pittsburgh Sunoco, employee facing charges

PITTSBURGH — An employee at a Sunoco gas station is facing charges after an altercation inside the store Monday night.

Pittsburgh police were called to the 100 block of North Craig Street for reports of a fight.

The fight started when a man threw a banana at employees and they threw it back. Court documents say several bananas were thrown back and forth between the man and the employees.

The man punched one of the employees in the face.

One of the employees, Yubaraj Budhathoki, allegedly chased the man into the parking lot and hit him in the head repeatedly with a piece of PVC pipe.

The man was taken to the hospital with a potential brain bleed. Police have not said if he will face any charges.

Budhathoki is charged with aggravated assault and recklessly endangering another person.

He was taken to the Allegheny County Jail.

People we spoke with who live and work in North Oakland were surprised to hear about this incident and said they’ve always had a good experience at the 7-Eleven.

“I would say it’s an out-of-place occurrence. I’ve never heard of anything else kind of happening like that recently,” said Katherine MacDonald, who lives in the Hill District and works in the area.

Carnegie Mellon University student Nicole Monaco said she’s never felt unsafe.

“Even if I saw people throwing bananas at each other, I probably wouldn’t feel like danger is near,” said Monaco.

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