James Crabtree, 45, was delivering pizza in Columbus, Ohio on the evening of October, 29, 2014 when he was shot multiple times and robbed of approximately $50. No arrests have been made. He is one of countless low-paid pizza drivers who have been killed while delivering the cheese-slathered particleboard that is now the world’s most disgusting foodstuff.

KRISTOR writes:

Reading over Alan’s list of depredations in Saint Louis since August, I could not help noticing that many of the crimes occurred in connection with the pizza industry. I make nothing of this – I don’t know what I could possibly make of it. But it rather leapt out at me. Is there some weird conjunction of universes going on, between thuggery and pizza?

Laura writes:

What with all that has been said here about industrial pizza, one important fact has been only briefly touched upon: The pizza business is dangerous. I don’t know if anyone has tried to count up all the victims. Pizza places stay open late and some are robbed for this reason. But it’s the pizza delivery that poses the greatest dangers. Many pizza delivery men and women have been killed over the years, typically slain for a few bucks. “Senseless” isn’t the right word. What could be easier than robbing a man who comes to your door with a few bucks in his wallet?

On October 29, James Crabtree, 45, was killed in Columbus while delivering his last pizza of the night. He was shot multiple times outside the house that placed the order and left to die in the street. He probably had $50 or so with him and it was gone. Pizza drivers deliberately don’t carry much money. The Columbus police noted the trend:

“People are desperate,” robbery detective Philip Thomas said. “What to you and I might seem like a trivial amount of money is worth taking someone’s life over.

“And they take the pizza, of course.”

No one has been arrested in Crabtree’s death and one wonders if anyone ever will be arrested. There is no description of suspects.

In 2010, a 17-year-old black girl, Yamiley Mathurin, ordered pizza in the Boston area with the intention of attacking the driver with her two friends.

When Richel Nova, a 58-year-old father of three, arrived with chicken wings, pizza, and a liter of Sprite, Mathurin told him to come around the back of the vacant house and follow her up the stairs. When he walked into the second-floor apartment, prosecutors said, [Mathurin’s friends] Gallet and St. Jean began stabbing him with two knives.

One knife broke during the attack and the second weapon was never recovered, Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Hickman has said. Gallet and St. Jean have pleaded not guilty, and jury selection in their trial began Monday.

They took Nova’s car, money and the pizzas. Nova was stabbed 16 times and left to die on the porch of an abandoned house. According to The Boston Globe, “He knew the dangers of his job and took precautions, like keeping the car engine running and the door open in case he needed to make a quick escape. Prosecutors have said Mathurin’s polite, sweet demeanor on the phone and at the scene made her seem trustworthy. ” Mathurin eventually pled guilty and will serve no more than 20 years in prison. Her two friends were also convicted.

Richard Nova

Yamiley Mathurin

Given how dangerous delivering pizzas is, it’s a wonder that anyone does it, let alone a pretty young woman. Kayla Thompson, 26, was killed last May in Ohio while delivering pizza. Adam Burris, 32, has been charged with her murder. Thompson, who worked for Plus 1 Pizza, was a single mother of two young children.

Kayla Thompson

Adam Burris

Elizabeth Hutcheson was also a single mother. In June, 2012, Hutcheson, 27, a Domino’s pizza delivery woman and the mother of a young child, was allegedly stabbed 50 times and bludgeoned to death by two teenagers, Cahedra Cook, 18 at the time, and her 15-year-old boyfriend Eddie Clark. Hutcheson was delivering a pizza in Cedartown in northwest Georgia. Cook pled guilty to the murder and will serve a minimum of 30 years in prison.

Cahedra Lynn Cook, 18 at the time, was charged in Hutcheson’s death

Given these crimes and many more, one would think pizza outlets would stop sending low-paid workers into risky situations and maybe even stop delivering pizza altogether. But it appears business is too good for that to happen and the luxury of having lukewarm particleboard topped with rubber cheese show up at one’s doorstep is too dear.

From The Daily Mail:

When asked about the risk to employees delivering pizza, Mr [Ken] McIntyre said Domino’s gives training programmes to its employees and encourages drivers not to carry more than US$20 with them.

‘We have been delivering pizzas for 52 years, and there’s a lot we do, but what we can’t do is eliminate evil,’ he said.

 Richard Nova’s relatives sued Domino’s for wrongful death.

— Comments —

George Weinbaum writes:

This post misses the point: it is dangerous to deliver pizza to Negroes. Just like it is dangerous to pick them up in your taxi. Suppose a Dominoes franchise stopped delivering pizza to Negroes. What would happen? How fast would Eric Holder and Al Sharpton scream about “white racism” in pizza delivery?

Laura writes:

It is dangerous to deliver to blacks and businesses are not permitted to discriminate in such a way that might save lives, but Adam Burris, to cite one example, wasn’t black. Pizza businesses know nothing about who is ordering and therefore the whole thing is risky.

Laura adds:

Pizza murders have occurred in Britain too.  Thavisha Lakindu Peiris was killed and robbed by two Arab teenagers while delivering Domino’s in Sheffield last year.

Terry Morris writes:

Once upon a time when I was a youngster I delivered pizzas for Dominos as a second job for earning extra cash. One thing I flatly refused to do from day one was to deliver to predominantly black neighborhoods, and I cautioned my fellow drivers to do the same. Most of whom ignored my advice. (Within our little group of a handful of drivers, I was the one most physically capable of defenfing himself against would-be attackers.) At that time instances of violence against pizza deliverers were concentrated in black neighborhoods in the town I worked in (as I’m sure they are today), but my recollection is that only (for lack of a better term) one such episode resulted in the driver’s (who worked for a different company) death. Most of the assaults weren’t engaged with the intent to kill the victim, but to inflict bodily harm and to steal his money (and the pizza) as a bonus. Obviously this proneness to violence amongst a certain racial group has turned more deadly over time.

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