“This a happy place,” the owner of Ralph’s Famous Italian Ices & Ice Cream in Centereach repeatedly expressed in an interview with the South Shore Press on Tuesday, June 3rd. “It’s unfortunate.”
WATCH THE PRANK VIDEOS HERE THAT LED TO AN ARREST
Such came less than 24 hours after the apprehension of Kyle Vazquez, 21, of Coram. Ralph’s management believes the “social media prankster” acted with all entitlement, and no accountability on the night of April 29th when he made a show of dumping a vat of eggs upon himself.
“You can’t go into somebody’s place and dump garbage and leave,” the Ralph’s owner told the South Shore Press.
And yet that’s exactly what Vazquez did; not just at Ralph’s, but everywhere, evidently.
Suffolk County Police announced earlier on Tuesday that Vazquez was arrested the previous night and charged with the following: Dissemination of an Unlawful Surveillance Image in the First Degree; Unlawful Surveillance in the Second Degree; and Criminal Tampering.
The felonious charges (eight counts total) stemmed from a litany of video-documented incidents—namely the Ralph's stunt, a similar one involving a bucket of beans he poured over his shirtless self inside Wing Wah Chinese Restaurant just up the road, and other instances involving unconsented filming inside homes in Centereach and Selden.
According to his 101.6K follower “tommytuffknuckles8” TikTok profile, Vazquez has a knack for "cringe" attempts at"cringer" comedy. He regularly stages “gotcha” style cellphone shoots that depict unknowing individuals becoming victims of his senseless bits.
Internet commenters, including one who even declared “Free my man!” after learning of Vazquez’ arrest, may be here for his tired shtick.
However, Ralph’s, and those like-mindedly right-minded about this objectively odd, “common sense in ruins” Gen-Z phenomenon wherein family establishments are rendered unsafe from the aimless, the shameless and the brainless, are absolutely not.
Their owner takes special umbrage with Vazquez’s lack of self-awareness, and those who would mimic his blatant disregard for community.
He held a broom in hand as he swept past not just the day’s obligatory scraps, but pointed reminders of the pointless stainage Vazquez’ reverberative tomfoolery caused.
The egg bucket dump seen and heard ‘round the local world splashed from where Vazquez stood to Ralph's' mini-pavilion for outdoor seating; this led to the mulched area needing a total overhaul, the owner confirmed.
That eggs were spilled outside the storefront, meant Board of Health-required signs typically reserved for the interior had to be displayed outside for the two weeks it took for the Ralph’s staff to clean up Vazquez’s certifiably asinine mess.
Above all, management is thankful no one was hurt. They agree Suffolk County's police force—as they have with the 2024-born Street Takeover Task Force created to eradicate coordinated drag races—are doing their job to decrease these types of head-scratching incidents.
The Ralph’s owner commended Suffolk County Police for their bang-up response, singling out the order of protection he revealed was in place to prevent a beyond-braggadocious Vazquez from returning to the scene of one of his many publicized crimes.
“The disregard for the customers, my employees… he [Vazquez] didn’t think about them and the business. He only thought about himself,” the owner added. “See the sign [behind the counter]: ‘An egg is an allergy…’ Even if there’s a schmear of peanut butter outside.. we take it seriously.”
Should anything have gone worse as a result of Vazquez’ buffoonery, he fears the blame would have been put on Ralph’s; an undeserved, and thankfully dodged fate.
“What if someone had an allergy outside? A kid went into anaphylactic shock? You know who they’re going to go after? They’re going to go after me.”
How management speaks of their predominantly teenage staff makes it abundantly clear: young as Ralph’s late-night scoopers may be, they each hold far more maturity than the dude with a screw loose a few years their senior.
Vazquez was arraigned in Central Islip Court on June 3rd. Meanwhile, Ralph’s Italian Ices sold summer delights hand over fist that day—not curtailed by Vazquez; rather, indefinitely puzzled by what transpired.
“This is a nice store,” the owner reaffirmed. “This is a happy business for families to have fun at.”
As for Vazquez, his definition of “fun and games” may have just run out, given the daunting nature of his charges.
“It’s not a speeding ticket,” the owner said. “It’s a felony.”
You can say that again.