From a glance at the New York State Police blotter, the arrest of two Stamford women on Monday evening on minor charges, after a "disturbance" at a local restaurant, doesn't look too unusual.
But a local man who witnessed the incident described a bizarre and harrowing scene: An unhinged woman throwing plates and mugs at staff, tearing up money and throwing it in the air, and striking out and "hissing like a demon" at staff and patrons who tried to subdue her.
The man -- who asked not to be identified -- told the Watershed Post that he was just about to leave Gabrielle's Restaurant in Stamford, after a quiet Monday evening dinner with his husband, another couple and their baby, when all hell broke loose.
"The waitress came out to give us our receipt and she was shaking,'" he said. "She just started crying, and [the mother of the baby] hugged her. She said, 'There's a woman over there throwing plates and striking at me, it's crazy.'"
The group went into the bar room -- where, he said, a woman was shrieking, throwing beer mugs and shot glasses, and trying to break off the bar taps.
"She had some money on the bar, it wasn't enough [to cover her bill]," the witness said. "She tore up all the money and threw it. Her eyes were bugging out, she was talking nonsense and hissing like a demon. I took a step closer to her and she lunged out at me and started screaming."
The scene was terrifying, he said.
"It was like when I was reading about zombies on bath salts, that's what it was like. She was possessed. Like the Exorcist," he said. "Her eyes -- she would open them up and stare, and hiss, and say, 'You're done.'"
He tried to calm the woman down, and got a smack in the face and a kick to the groin for his pains, he said. He declined to press charges, saying he had only wanted to make sure everyone was safe, including the woman herself.
"Luckily, she wasn't a very good aim," he said. "She was so crazy, she brought out the anger of everybody in the room. I knew that I had to do something. I couldn't just not do something. Somebody was about to get very hurt."
Meanwhile, the woman's friend, though not physically violent, was also uttering nonsense, the man said.
The man said that a group of staff and patrons managed to keep the woman from doing any major violence to anyone for about half an hour, while they waited for police to show up. Eventually, he said, the two women calmed down and ended up on the floor, hugging each other and crying.
The incident apparently didn't make an impression on everyone in the restaurant, he said.
"This other guy who was around the corner -- finally, when it was all over, he comes out, and he's like, 'I didn't even know anything was happening, I just wanted some ketchup,'" he said.
Arrested on Monday night were 53-year-old Martha McConville and 63-year-old Cheryl Christenson, both Stamford residents. McConville is charged with fourth-degree criminal mischief, third-degree criminal trespass, theft of services, and two counts of second-degree harassment. Christenson is charged with third-degree criminal trespass and theft of services.
In a phone interview, state police investigator Kyle Oliver of the Margaretville station said that a police report of the incident confirmed that the pair were described as "breaking dishes and glasses and being aggressive with the staff." There was no mention of whether drugs or alcohol were involved, Oliver said.
Management at Gabrielle's could not be reached for comment.
