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Pita Pit Manager Dan Ingalls served a customer Tuesday afternoon at his restaurant on North Second Street downtown. Ingalls was able to clean up the restaurant after a man "trashed the place" Monday afternoon. Police said the man later attacked innocent bystanders. Police charged Jonathan Martinez, 33, in the case.

Jonathan Martinez

HARRISBURG- Harrisburg police arrested a 33-year-old Monday after he allegedly went on a destructive rampage inside the Pita Pit restaurant downtown and assaulted innocent bystanders on the sidewalk.

The man seemed angry and agitated before he barged into the Pita Pit on North Second Street just before 4 p.m., where police said he overturned tables and chairs and tossed expensive cash registers to the floor.

He also knocked over displays containing chips and cookies and tried to rip the door off from a soda cooler, according to Dan Ingalls, the Pita Pit manager.

Ingalls said he was working at the time, but outside on the sidewalk, when he heard a thump and felt the concrete shake beneath his feet. He turned and saw a shirtless man standing behind his counter. The man had darted behind the counter after knocking over tables and chairs.

Ingalls approached the man, whom he recognized as a service worker from another business downtown.

"What are you doing behind the counter?" Ingalls asked the man.

The man didn't answer. He mumbled incoherently and looked disoriented.

"He couldn't even speak," Ingalls said. "That's how messed up he was."

Ingalls stopped the man from destroying the soda cooler and tried to usher him out, but the man then came at Ingalls.

Ingalls grabbed the store's phone, ran out the back door and called 911. As Ingalls walked back around outside to the front of the store, he saw the man had exited Pita Pit, but now was stopping traffic at the intersection and Second and Walnut street.

A cookie display on the counter at the Pita Pit remained broken on Tuesday.

The man methodically sat on the hoods of various vehicles that had to stop to avoid striking him, Ingalls said. Then the man starting banging on the door of the Bourbon Street Saloon, which was just opening for business.

The man got into the saloon, where a manager tried to contain him.

"The manager was a big man, and he was having trouble with that guy," Ingalls said.

The man got away from the manager and swung at innocent bystanders, Ingalls said. He knocked bags of food from the hands of a couple walking down the street. He also allegedly hit a woman, breaking her glasses and forcing her into the street, where she was nearly hit by a car.

"He was assaulting random people," Ingalls said "Anyone who walked by was getting assaulted."

A bystander helped the woman get away from the attacker, police said. That bystander and another man then worked together to finally overpower the attacker until officers arrived.

Police arrested Jonathan Martinez, who lives downtown.

Police charged Martinez with aggravated assault, simple assault, resisting arrest, criminal mischief and disorderly conduct.

Community Policing Coordinator David Botero happened upon the incident as it was wrapping up. He saw Martinez in the back of a police wagon making noises, but unable to speak. Martinez also began weeping and thrashed about, causing the wagon to sway.

Police were investigating whether Martinez had taken bath salts or illegal drugs prior to the incident.

Meanwhile, the Pita Pit was able to reopen Monday night after an hour of cleanup. A cookie display case and a cash register cord were all that was broken, Ingalls said Tuesday afternoon, as he served up a falafel pita.

UPDATE: This article was updated to include that police were investigating whether illegal drugs played a role.