Man Who Threw Snake At Tim Hortons Restaurant Employees Sentenced

The CBC reports that one of the two men who threw a snake across the counter at scared workers in a Tim Hortons restaurant in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, has been sentenced in the incident.

Christopher Cook and Luke Apooch, both 20 years old, entered a Tim Hortons clearly intoxicated and with phone in hand, recording themselves as they obnoxiously tormented employees over their sandwich orders, which seemed to entertain them tremendously. It ended when they decided, for some reason, to toss a snake across the counter.

The snake was recovered by the police who named it Outlaw. According to CKOM, it had been moved to an animal sanctuary but it has since been released into the wild. The snake was not venomous but it still got the expected reaction a tossed snake would get, especially inside a Tim Hortons.

At the time, Saskatoon Police spokesperson Alyson Edwards told Global TV about the incident and how it affected the Tim Hortons employees.

“Very different, very bizarre and for the employees that were involved, very frightening because they wouldn’t know that wasn’t a poisonous snake or it wasn’t dangerous.”

Now, Christopher Cook, currently aged 21, has received a conditional discharge and six months of probation over the very different, very bizarre incident. He will not have a criminal record as long as he abides by conditions imposed on him, including never returning to that particular Tim Hortons location. Additionally, he has paid a “$500 victim surcharge,” or, as Christopher Cook’s lawyer prefers to call it, a donation to the restaurant’s charity. He has also written a formal apology.

Cook’s partner-in-crime and the owner of Outlaw the snake, Luke Apooch, slithered out of the grasp of law enforcement. He is wanted on a bench warrant after he decided he wouldn’t show up in court in July.

Before going on the lam, however, according to another CBC article from earlier in the year, Luke Apooch expressed that he wanted his snake back after the throw-down incident. As the story goes, he found the snake when he was working in the Alberta oilfields. He affectionately named the critter Patches O’Houlihan and kept the little guy in a pizza box.

After giving the snake toss some thought, Luke Apooch decided, partly in a bid to get the snake back, that he would issue an apology, according to the Huffington Post.

“I am truly sorry that I have done such an irresponsible and ridiculous act. I have nothing against Tim Hortons or anything at all.”

Tossing snakes in Tim Hortons restaurants is not a common activity, and as a result, the incident made national headlines across Canada.

[Photo from CKOM]