Rochester, N.Y. - Minutes after pleading guilty in Victor Town Court to two of three charges he faced, Bruce James Littlejohn addressed the “other” charge. The one that angered so many.
“I would never spit on anybody,” he said exclusively to 13WHAM News.
The former Pittsford school teacher is soft-spoken and polite. He insists he wants to set the record straight.
The man wearing an inmate jumpsuit and being led away in handcuffs is a sharp contrast to the man police say was drunk and belligerent at Eastview Mall on November 17th.
Witnesses say he was drinking alcohol from a sports bottle and attempted to urinate on the wall outside of Sears.
Monica Robert, a Slavation Army bell ringer gave the following statement to police:
“I could tell he’d been drinking. He was staggering when he walked. I hoped he would just walk by and leave me alone,” says her statement.
She says Littlejohn announced he was going to spit on her, she turned her head to protect her face, and he instead spit on her jacket before being accosted by mall security guards.
Littlejohn pleaded guilty to two of the most serious charges of resisting arrest and disorderly conduct on Thursday. 13WHAM News asked his attorney if alcohol was to blame.
“He doesn’t blame it on anything, just poor judgment,” says John Pericak.
Littlejohn has a history of DWI arrests. Outside court he says he was provoked by security guards who rushed at him.
“It’s kind of a reaction to what was done in the first place,” he explains. “I played college football and I’m sued to running from people who chased me.”
He’s agreed to accept punishment, but not the blame. “It’s too bad that somebody can falsely accuse someone of doing what they didn’t do,” he says.
Littlejohn did not plead guilty to a harassment charge – the count related to the spitting. He is in custody because he faces state prison time for violating his parole related to past DWI incidents.
This one year sentence will be rolled into whatever sentence he receives for that legal matter.
Littlejohn’s story directly contradicts what witnesses and the victim say happened that day. The bell ringer has returned to work. We wanted to question him further outside of court, but transport deputies led him away.
“Thank you Jane, have a nice day,” Littlejohn said in parting.
