A Canadian man is facing charges in Florida after an altercation at Disney World in which the man allegedly “shoulder checked” a female employee in an attempt to get on a ride that had just closed.
The alleged incident occurred March 20 at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park, according to Orange County Circuit Court documents seen by CTVNews.ca.
Police allege that 48-year-old Domenico Barbieri of Palgrave, Ont., along with three of his family members, attempted to enter the line of a ride that had closed for the day about 10 minutes earlier.
After they were escorted out of the line, police say Barbieri jumped a set of chains into the “Lightning Lane,” where the employee attempted to stop him from advancing by putting her hand on the handrail.
“(Barbieri) continued advancing and shoved (the employee) with his shoulder claiming that she was not going to stop him,” read the initial complaint.
The employee, whose name has been redacted in the court records, was able to keep herself in front of Barbieri as he advanced in the line towards other guests, according to the complaint.
“(Barbieri) shoulder checked her a subsequent time as he made it towards the next employee at the end of the Lightning Lane (and) finally stopped when all parties were in front of other employees and guests,” it read.
Police said that after he was questioned, Barbieri “largely corroborated” the employee’s recounting of the incident, and he was arrested without incident.
He was charged with first-degree misdemeanor battery.
Barbieri, who has pleaded not guilty to the charges, was later released from custody on a US$2,000 bond and allowed to return to Canada.
While he was held in the U.S., Barbieri was an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) inmate, the Orange County Corrections Department told CTVNews.ca.
CTVNews.ca reached out to Barbieri’s lawyer but did not receive a response by the time of publication.
A pre-trial conference that was originally scheduled for Friday has been postponed until next month.
