Usually when you take a cold, delicious bite of Pinkberry frozen yogurt, you don’t think about tire irons and homeless people. But maybe you will now, thanks to the latest news that the co-founder of the (still kinda) popular fro-yo chain, Young Lee, was recently arrested for some questionable behavior.
The LA Times is reporting that Lee was responsible for chasing down and beating up a homeless guy.
Young Lee was stopped at a light when he was approached by a transient seeking money, police said. Words were exchanged, and Lee and another man in the car chased the homeless man and “beat him down” with the tire iron, police Capt. Paul Vernon said…Detectives spent several months probing the case against Lee, who was in South Korea for part of that time.
Authorities aren’t reporting on how the victim fared after the attack, except that he definitely earned a lifetime supply of frozen yogurt.
I admit that I totally hopped on the Pinkberry bandwagon back in 2005, when I happened to be in a state of mind that circling the same block in West Hollywood for 30 minutes to find a parking space and then to stand in line for even longer just to eat an overpriced cup of tart frozen yogurt was totally okay. Then I read about how Pinkberry wasn’t even actually “frozen yogurt” and that legally making dairy products in the state of California required more than just secret ingredients. And didn’t the co-founders steal their idea from the original Red Mango?
Regardless of how Pinkberry conducts business (the Pinkberry website doesn’t list any affiliation with Lee) and what “frozen yogurt” really means, beating someone up with a tire iron sounds like a dick move. Also, ice cream rules.
UPDATE: The police are now reporting that the assault happened because Lee was offended by the victim’s tattoo:
The man was changing into a sweatshirt, revealing a sexually explicit tattoo, and Lee seemed to have viewed the tattoo as a suggestion of disrespect, a police official said. Lee rolled down his window and apparently got into an argument with the man, then parked on Vermont and left his car to confront him.
He then demanded an apology, which the man gave, but still chased him down and beat him up. Thanks to a witness calling 911, authorities were able to track down the license plate number, the car and Lee’s whereabouts. Ridiculous!
