Off-key singing sets off bus rider
Posted: Fri Jun 25, 2004 11:41 am
OK, I know this should be in the Craziest Criminal Stories topic, but this is too funny to pass up.
Tinuola Awopetu - Court TV wrote:"American Idol" rejects will want to steer clear of Endelecia Maria Lovato.
The Salt Lake City woman was recently charged with felony aggravated assault for allegedly stabbing a fellow bus rider when she took offense to his singing.
Lovato, 18, and her alleged victim, Jose Rivas, were passengers on a Utah transit bus March 30. Rivas, 23, was listening to his portable CD player with headphones and singing along. Lovato allegedly told Rivas to shut up.
"It's unclear if she took exception to his singing ability or just the noise," Police Captain Tracy Tingey said. "He did stop singing but because he yelled back at her."
Lovato and Rivas got into a verbal altercation that continued until the bus came to a stop. When they got off the bus, Lovato allegedly pulled out a nail file and stabbed Rivas in the shoulder.
Lovato dropped the weapon and fled the scene, Tingey said. But a police officer a block and a half away noticed a woman peering out nervously from the entrance of a beauty salon.
"It was quite obvious that she was acting suspicious, looking to see where the cops were," Tingey said.
The officer matched Lovato to the description broadcast over police radio and arrested her.
Rivas was treated at the scene of the crime and referred to his own doctor. But the song at the root of his encounter with Lovato remains a mystery.
"I would have loved myself to know what he was singing," Tingey said. "But he doesn't strike me as the country western type."
Lovato was arraigned June 10. She faces $1,000 fine and up to 10 years in prison.