MANHATTAN — A school lunchroom worker was arrested for punching an Applebee's staffer in the face in an argument over a bill on Halloween, police said.
Maurice Smith, a 26-year-old who works in the lunchroom at an Upper East Side school, socked the chain's employee in the restaurant at Fifth Avenue and West 125th Street about 11:40 p.m. Monday, according to NYPD and Department of Education officials.
The Applebee's staffer, whose name and age weren't immediately released, suffered a cut that bled heavily and needed to be stitched closed, prosecutors said.
Smith also hurled a glass during the fight, which also involved another person who was with him, prosecutors said.
The lunchroom employee, who works at the Robert F. Kennedy school on East 88th Street, was arrested at the restaurant, police said.
Christopher Vanlierop, 32, who was with Smith, was also arrested, prosecutors said.
Smith has been arrested once before, but records for that arrest were sealed, police said.
Smith was arraigned and released Wednesday, records show.
He's due back in court on Jan. 19.
