Secondhand smoke led to first-hand violence at a Bensalem casino after a Morrisville woman attacked a woman who refused to put out her cigarette, police said.
The smoker required three staples in her head to close a cut after Dana Sarne, 30, of South Pennsylvania Avenue, hit her with a beer bottle, according to Pennsylvania State Police.
The alleged incident happened March 4 at Parx Casino on Street Road when a woman claimed that Sarne repeatedly struck her and then hit her in the head with the bottle after a verbal argument over the woman’s smoking, police said.
The two women were playing slot machines next to each other when Sarne asked the woman to put out her cigarette because it was irritating her asthma, police said. The smoker refused and the two started arguing, police added.
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| Dana Sarne |
The smoker admitted that she blew cigarette smoke in Sarne’s face, police said. In response, Sarne struck the woman in the face and head with her hand, according to a probable cause affidavit.
Surveillance video showed Sarne hit the woman in the face four or five times with her hand, according to police.
The smoker’s husband told police he was playing slots nearby when he heard the argument between the two women. As the husband and Sarne’s friends injected themselves into the fight, the smoker felt something hit the back of her head and immediately felt dizzy, she told police.
Sarne later admitted to swinging at the smoker after she blew smoke in her face and “throwing” a bottle at her, according to the affidavit.
The woman’s husband grabbed Sarne after she tried to run away, police said.
When state troopers arrived, they said the smoker’s shirt was covered in blood and she was bleeding from the head and had a cut lips as well. The smoker’s husband sustained minor facial cuts after attempting to separate the women, police said.
Sarne later reportedly told police that she was not aware that the incident occurred in the smoking section of the casino.
“She related that she felt bad for yelling at (the smoker) because she was obviously within her rights to smoke in the smoking section,” according to the affidavit.
Sarne was arraigned Tuesday before Bensalem District Judge Joseph Falcone on charges of aggravated and simple assault, harassment and disorderly conduct. She was sent to Bucks County prison in lieu of 10 percent of $25,000 bail.
Sarne is on probation after pleading guilty in Bucks County Court in April to simple assault, possessing an instrument of crime, and reckless endangerment, according to online court records. She also received probation in 2009 after pleading guilty to simple assault and harassment, and in 2008 after pleading guilty to disorderly conduct, court records show.
Jo Ciavaglia: 215-949-4181; email: jciavaglia@phillyBurbs.com; Twitter: @jociavaglia
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