Man Accused of Throwning Phone Towards Gas Station Clerk

A 27-year-old Racine man is facing charges after he allegedly threw a cordless phone at a Caledonia gas station clerk because he didn’t get a refund on a recent purchase.

Steven K. Harris was charged in Racine County Circuit Court Monday with one count of disorderly conduct and one count of criminal damage to property. If convicted, he faces up to one year in prison and $11,000 in fines.

According to the criminal complaint:

At 9:50 p.m. Sunday, Harris went to , where he bought a Netspeed Mastercard from the station. An hour later, though, he returned an hour later saying it didn’t work and demanded his money back. One of the clerks had Harris contact the manager on a cordless phone, but during the conversation he became upset and threw the phone towards the clerk, missing her head by a foot and smashing the phone into pieces against a cigarette rack.

A witness to the incident got Harris’ license plate number and his vehicle was found around 12:12 a.m. in the 2000 block of LaSalle Street in Racine. He first tried to run from an officer, but was eventually stopped. The officer also discovered a bottle of pills in his pocket.

When asked if he had been at Speedway, Harris said “(expletive) them (expletive), they stole my money.” He then told the officer he purchased the card and the clerk started “getting slick” with him and the incident wouldn’t have happened if they had just refunded his money.

Harris said the bottle of pills in his pocket belong to his live-in girlfriend.

He’s currently being held in Racine County Jail on a $400 signature bond.