- Feb 8, 2001
- 29,033
- 6
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Patron on house arrest allegedly smashes drive-up window when fast food isn't fast enough
It was late on a Saturday night, and Randy Farrell Bailey craved Burger King. There was just one problem: He wasn't supposed to leave home.
Bailey, serving an in-home sentence for a DWI-related conviction, wore an electronic monitoring device on his ankle. He knew if he strayed more than 150 feet from his home in St. Paul, Minn., he'd set off an alarm.
But there is about a four-minute delay on the alarm, which means no one would be the wiser if he could drive three blocks to the restaurant and return home within that time.
The illicit food run didn't work out. Apparently upset that his drive-through order was taking too long, Bailey allegedly started using foul language, prompting manager Danielle Weaver to refuse him service.
An angered Bailey then kicked out the drive-through window, valued at nearly $1,100, police said. He did, however, make it home before the alarm went off.
"It looks like the guy thought he could make it to Burger King and back before he would trip the alarm," said St. Paul police spokesman Tom Walsh. "He was upset that he wasn't getting immediate service."
The incident happened about 10:30 p.m. July 8. Bailey was charged Friday in Ramsey County with felony criminal destruction of property. Weaver, who is an assistant manager at the Burger King at 841 Maryland Ave. E., said that when the man pulled up and placed his order, he seemed overly agitated and in a hurry.
"He was using profanity to order his food ? 'Can I have an effing cheeseburger and an effing fries and an effing that,' " she said. "I asked him to control his language, and he kept cussing. I told my drive-through lady that we weren't going to take his order."
After being told that, Bailey pulled up to the window, got out of his car and then kicked the drive-through window, breaking it, witnesses told police.
Employees got the car's license plate number, and when police showed up at Bailey's home to question him, he seemed to have an alibi tighter than bark on a hickory.
"He stated he was wearing a home monitor ankle bracelet for a DWI related offense and the alarm would have sounded if he left his residence for a distance in excess of 150 feet," St. Paul police officer Richard Oesterreich wrote in an affidavit accompanying the criminal complaint.
As police discovered, however, the 150-foot limit comes with an exception. The wearer can stray that distance for about four minutes before triggering the alarm, said James Goneau of Ramsey County Community Corrections' electronic monitoring program.
"Sometimes, they'll run the garbage to the curb or go out and get the mail. It's not ultra-sensitive," he said of the in-home monitors. "I think it's a four-minute window."
Goneau told police he was skeptical of their version of events because no alarm had sounded. "They had an eyewitness that put him at the scene, but the equipment doesn't lie," he said in an interview. "I had a hard time believing that it could be done."
Police did an experiment and drove from Bailey's home to the Burger King and back. "The total distance, obeying traffic laws, was approximately nine-tenths of a mile round trip and could be driven in approximately four minutes," Oesterreich said in his affidavit.
It was late on a Saturday night, and Randy Farrell Bailey craved Burger King. There was just one problem: He wasn't supposed to leave home.
Bailey, serving an in-home sentence for a DWI-related conviction, wore an electronic monitoring device on his ankle. He knew if he strayed more than 150 feet from his home in St. Paul, Minn., he'd set off an alarm.
But there is about a four-minute delay on the alarm, which means no one would be the wiser if he could drive three blocks to the restaurant and return home within that time.
The illicit food run didn't work out. Apparently upset that his drive-through order was taking too long, Bailey allegedly started using foul language, prompting manager Danielle Weaver to refuse him service.
An angered Bailey then kicked out the drive-through window, valued at nearly $1,100, police said. He did, however, make it home before the alarm went off.
"It looks like the guy thought he could make it to Burger King and back before he would trip the alarm," said St. Paul police spokesman Tom Walsh. "He was upset that he wasn't getting immediate service."
The incident happened about 10:30 p.m. July 8. Bailey was charged Friday in Ramsey County with felony criminal destruction of property. Weaver, who is an assistant manager at the Burger King at 841 Maryland Ave. E., said that when the man pulled up and placed his order, he seemed overly agitated and in a hurry.
"He was using profanity to order his food ? 'Can I have an effing cheeseburger and an effing fries and an effing that,' " she said. "I asked him to control his language, and he kept cussing. I told my drive-through lady that we weren't going to take his order."
After being told that, Bailey pulled up to the window, got out of his car and then kicked the drive-through window, breaking it, witnesses told police.
Employees got the car's license plate number, and when police showed up at Bailey's home to question him, he seemed to have an alibi tighter than bark on a hickory.
"He stated he was wearing a home monitor ankle bracelet for a DWI related offense and the alarm would have sounded if he left his residence for a distance in excess of 150 feet," St. Paul police officer Richard Oesterreich wrote in an affidavit accompanying the criminal complaint.
As police discovered, however, the 150-foot limit comes with an exception. The wearer can stray that distance for about four minutes before triggering the alarm, said James Goneau of Ramsey County Community Corrections' electronic monitoring program.
"Sometimes, they'll run the garbage to the curb or go out and get the mail. It's not ultra-sensitive," he said of the in-home monitors. "I think it's a four-minute window."
Goneau told police he was skeptical of their version of events because no alarm had sounded. "They had an eyewitness that put him at the scene, but the equipment doesn't lie," he said in an interview. "I had a hard time believing that it could be done."
Police did an experiment and drove from Bailey's home to the Burger King and back. "The total distance, obeying traffic laws, was approximately nine-tenths of a mile round trip and could be driven in approximately four minutes," Oesterreich said in his affidavit.
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