WESTFIELD – A Southwick restaurateur has been arraigned on assault charges after he allegedly struck an employee – who is also a family member – on the head from behind with a hard plastic bowl.
Southwick Police Officer Ernest Malone reports that a woman came to the station in May to complain that she had been assaulted by a family member, the owner of a Southwick restaurant.
The young woman told Malone that she has been employed there six years, taking telephone orders at his restaurant. She said that, on May 28, 2019, while she was working she had taken out her cell phone and was about to text her mother but “she was then suddenly hit over the head from behind with a hard plastic bowl by someone.” She said when she turned around she found her employer holding the bowl who angrily told her to “Get the (deleted) off the phone!” and said “if she didn’t get off the phone he would hit her harder next time.”
The victim told Malone that she immediately felt dizzy and nauseous after the blow and only dealt with one more customer before she left work early because she was concerned about driving home in the dark in her condition.
She told Malone that when she got home her mother took her to Baystate Noble Hospital where she was told she had a concussion. Malone reports the woman “showed me a bump on her head which I was able to feel” and also told him she was not going to return to her job.
Malone reports he then spoke with the suspect, subsequently identified as Victor V. Ferrentino, 58, of 131 College Highway, Southwick, who immediately said that he yelled at the victim to get off her cell phone and denied that he had struck her. He said the victim was lying and “claimed that he has tried to help (the victim) in the past and gave her a job a few years back, however, he claimed that she goes on her cell phone while she is at work which upsets him. Victor stated that he actually pays for (the victim’s) cell phone bill.”
Malone advised Ferrentino that he would be summoned to court and charged him with assault and battery on a family member and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.
Ferrentino did not appear in Westfield District Court as summoned on Aug. 6 to answer charges of assault and battery and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon so a warrant was issued.
He came to court the next day and the warrant was recalled. He was released on his personal recognizance pending an Oct. 9 hearing after he was arraigned before Judge William O’Grady.
