Chasing Two Teens over a 92 Dollar Tab Could Cost This Restaurant Owner His Freedom

A Springfield restaurant owner chased down two customers who skipped their bill last week.

Prosecutors just charged him like he was the criminal that night.

Now his family business and his freedom hang on one word: self defense.

Nadim Kashouh Built a Restaurant for 25 Years Before One Night Undid It

Nadim Kashouh has run Nadim's Downtown Mediterranean Grill on Main Street in Springfield since 2005.

Before that he spent years building a career, immigrating from Lebanon in his twenties and working his way up through hospitality and the jewelry trade before he ever owned a stove.

Last Friday night, a 17 year old girl and 18 year old Javonnie Lee walked out of his restaurant without paying a 92 dollar and 40 cent tab.

Kashouh went after them.

He caught up with the pair at a nearby convenience store.

According to police, Kashouh took the girl's phone as leverage for the unpaid bill, then hit her with an elbow and struck Lee with a punch to the face during the confrontation.

When a crowd started gathering, Kashouh pointed his own legally owned firearm at the group, and says he did it because he felt threatened.

Springfield Police Charged the Restaurant Owner, Not Just the Teens

Springfield police did not treat this as a business owner protecting his livelihood.

They charged Kashouh with two counts of assault with a dangerous weapon, armed robbery with a firearm, and assault and battery.

His gun and his license to carry were seized on the spot.

The two teens, who told police their card had been declined twice that night, were each issued a criminal complaint for defrauding a restaurant, a far lighter consequence than what the man they left unpaid is now facing.

These charges came out of the office of Hampden County District Attorney Anthony Gulluni, a Democrat now in his eleventh year running the county's prosecutions.

Massachusetts law explains why prosecutors moved this fast.

The state has no stand your ground law, and outside your own home you carry a legal duty to retreat before using force, even when you are the victim.

Chasing someone off your own property and into public space is exactly the kind of decision that duty to retreat was written to punish.

This Is Not the First Business Owner Caught in This Trap

A nearly identical case played out in Fraser, Colorado, where a restaurant owner was arrested after pointing a gun at two customers who allegedly skipped out on a 120 dollar tab.

A Philadelphia restaurant owner faced a very different outcome after firing on two armed robbers as they fled his store, with police calling it an isolated incident and filing no charges against him.

Small business owners are being asked to absorb theft quietly or risk becoming the defendant, and more prosecutors are choosing the second option than most people realize.

The Community Around Nadim's Is Not Buying the Official Story

Kashouh's restaurant posted a statement this week saying he maintains his innocence and acted in self defense.

A former employee, Maureen Pinette, wrote publicly that she watched him handle difficult situations for years and never once saw him lose his cool.

Neighbors are showing up for a man who spent 25 years feeding this city, not for the teenagers who dined and dashed on him.

That instinct is not wrong.

A man who fled Lebanon and built a livelihood from nothing does not deserve to lose it because two teenagers could not pay a bar tab and then blamed a declined card.

Here Is What This Case Actually Comes Down To

Forget the legal jargon for a second, because this case is really about who the system decides to protect.

A 92 dollar dine and dash ended with the two teens facing a citation and the man who chased them down facing years in prison.

That imbalance is not an accident of one overzealous prosecutor, it is what happens when duty to retreat law gets applied against the person who got robbed instead of the people doing the robbing.

Springfield will spend months litigating whether Kashouh crossed a line by chasing his own money down the street.

Business owners watching this case are getting the message loud and clear: catch the person who stole from you, and Anthony Gulluni's office might decide you're the one who needs a defense attorney.

Sources:

• Louis Casiano, "Massachusetts restaurant owner assaults teen dine-and-dashers, pulls gun during scuffle, police say," Fox News, September 23, 2026.
• KDVR Staff, "Man who pointed gun at alleged dine-and-dashers was restaurant owner: Affidavit," FOX31 Denver.
• FindLaw, "Massachusetts Self-Defense Laws: Review," FindLaw.com.