(During the summer of 2010 in Pico Rivera/Whittier Ca)
There was huge 6x4 steel plates put into the Slauson bridge during construction that were not set properly into the bridge. For weeks these plates made huge booming noise that would echo over a couple hundred houses everytime a car or semi-truck would drive over it. This noise sounded like a huge boulder being dropped into a trash dumpster at all hours of the day and night 24/7. The problem was so bad that families and older folks were walking over to the fence to look at the bridge to figure out what the noise was. People with babies and older people in there 70's were trying to find out what this noise was that was keeping them up at night. They were even asking me because I live close to the field where the bridge is located. Once I figured out what the noise was, we called the Pico Rivera Sherriffs to ask what we can do to get it fixed. The officer I spoke with could hear the noise so loudly over the phone she said she was surprised it was that loud. She told us to call the city, so we did. I left a message with "Art Macias" who is in the Public Works division in Pico Rivera. He later told me a city inspector was sent out to see what the problem was on the bridge. The city inspector went and spoke with "Shawn Pizzi"(plaintiff) and his exact words according to Art Macias was "the guys a real p***k".(referring to Plaintiff Shawn Pizzi). I do not know the inspectors name and I left four messages with "Art Macias" to get his name, he never called back. I was also informed "Shawny Pizzi" did not get a permit to divert traffic. Also at the time there was NO "steel plates ahead" signs posted which cause an accident I believe.
So the next morning when I noticed the loud booming sound still going strong, I decided to just ask the men working on the railroad and bridge myself if there is something they can do to fix it. I walked over the bridge to get to the other side (over the SGV River trail). I asked a group of men who the foreman was and they pointed him out. I was standing on Rivera Road, NOT in the temporarily fenced off "lot" with the trespassing sign you see in pictures.There was NO trespassing sign on the Rivera Road where I was standing. I walked up to "Shawn Pizzi" , "Ryan Proudfit" "Luis Diaz" only. "Aundria Schultz" was still inside of the trailer office inside of the fenced off lot, she lied and said she was with the others when I walked up.
I then asked "Shawn Pizzi" if he could fix the steel plates that make that loud noise all night. His exact words were "it's not broken". I then asked if they could put more concrete around the plates to help it not rattle all night, he then suggested I go up and "fix it myself". I told him if they just added more concrete around the edges of the steel plates it wouldn't rattle so much, because cars wouldn't be striking the plates with their tires. He again told me "I should go up and fix it myself". He then asked "where do I flip burgers at?" and was laughing etc...He also said something about me being a hooker in West Hollywood,haha.. I told him "maybe you should work for BP because they cant seem to get the job done right either" (this was shortly before the BP oil well was finally stopped). "Shawny Pizzi" is inches taller than me and wearing steel toe boots,hardhat and safety glasses. He then stormed up to me about a foot away with his fists clenched and said "I'll knock you out little f****t", he looked like he was trying to "chest bump" me into a fight or he was going to punch me. Then "Ryan Proudfit" and "Luis Diaz" stepped up from behind "Shawn Pizzi" and put there hands on his shoulders to stop him from fighting me and told him "stop!" If "Ryan Proudfit" and "Luis Diaz" did not stop him, I believe he would have pushed or struck me definitely.
After "Shawn Pizzi" was stopped from striking me by "Ryan Proudfit" and "Luis Diaz" I pulled out my cell phone and began to film. "Shawn Pizzi" asked "what are you gonna do with that?" I told him "I would post it on YouTube.com and show his boss how he's acting". He then called what sounded like his office saying "I have a guy here who is trespassing" and he needed someone to remove me. Then "Aundria Shultz" comes out of the trailer she was in about 50 ft away. He spoke with her for a minute and she went back inside to call someone I think. Well no one showed up and then "Shawn Pizzi" called the Pico Rivera Sheriff's and said "I have a guy here trespassing and threatening me etc...". I decided to wait for the police myself to make a formal complaint against "Shawn Pizzi" for threatening me. I continued to film and wait for police for an estimated 20 to 30 minutes! I could have easily walked home by the time they showed up, but I waited to make that complaint against "Shawn Pizzi" threatening me. While I was filming and waiting for the police "Shawn Pizzi" and Aundria Shultz" started making fun of me again, asking me "where do you work"? "Aundria Schultz" even made fun of some basketball shoes I was wearing, it was like kids on a 3rd grade playground. "Luis Diaz" asked me where I lived and "Ryan Proudfit" never said a word to me the whole time. After that they all walked away and went back to work, "Shawn Pizzi" was making phone calls about work and a dump truck of some sorts had pulled up and they were handling that as well. I was literally standing there by myself just filming all of this on Rivera Road next to the Slauson bridge connecting Whittier and Pico Rivera (near Pioneer High School kind of).
The Pico Rivera sheriff finally show up, I was still standing on the road filming. Unfortunately I didn't save my footage correctly and it was lost. It was a newer phone and I wasn't completely familiar of how to save footage etc....The Sheriffs immediately put me against the fence and then into the back of the car handcuffed, no questions asked.(My wife witnessed the arrest). My wife showed up right after them because I told her where I was going previously. Sheriff "Guzman" then interviewed "Shawn Pizzi" , "Aundria Shultz", "Luis Diaz" and "Ryan Proudfit" all right next to each other in a circle. I could hear "Shawn Pizzi" lying and saying" I was threatening him". Then the Sheriff "Guzman" seperated everyone about 3 feet from each other and asked more questions. Luis, Aundria and Ryan heard what "Shawn Pizzi" said and then they just lied and went along with it because he is there boss. In the police report the Sheriff states he asked me "why I did not leave?" I never said I didn't leave because "there were no trespassing signs" that is a total lie. I told the Sheriff's I didn't leave because I waited to file a complaint against "Shawn Pizzi", I also told them about the footage I thought I had in my phone. The Sheriffs didnt seem to care at all to be honest. The Filipino officer with "Guzman" was trying to talk to my wife about her tattoo and who knows what, and didnt even ask her about what happened! I tried to tell "Guzman" what happened but all he said was he was "gonna hook me". I actually thought he said "he was gonna hook me up" I was confused. I was NEVER told I was under arrest and I was NEVER read my "Miranda rights" when I was arrested. Not until some 30+ hours later in jail was I finally read my rights by detective "Jimmy Wong". I also told "detective "Jimmy Wong" I waited for the Sheriffs to make a complaint against "Shawn Pizzy" but he never put that into his report. He actually didn't put alot of what I explained to him in his report.
(LIES / MISINFORMATION in POLICE REPORT)
1) "Shawn Pizzi" states in first interview with Sheriff "Guzman" that I said "I am going to kick your f*****g a*s".
"Shawn Pizzi states in second interview with detective "Wong" that I said "I am gonna whip your redneck a*s".
2) "Shawn Pizzi" in second interview states I told him "I am going to kick your f*****g a*s" and that "I was going to come back every day and harass him"
"Shawn Pizzi" in first interview NEVER mentions the statement that "I was going to come back every day and harass him" (I never told him that either of course)
3) "Shawn Pizzi" in first interview with "Guzman"says nothing about "homosexual" remarks.
"Shawn Pizzi" in second interview says I called him a "homosexual f****t" and that he "ran around West Hollywood wearing red panties" (Also a lie. I never told him that, he told me I was a hooker in West Hollywood)
4) "Shawn Pizzi" is the one who threatened "B H" and NOT the other way around.
5) "Aundria Schultz" states she was outside when I walked up to ask if they could fix the problem. She was not even outside when I walked up, she was in the office trailer in the fenced off area with "no
trespassing" signs. Also she was calling me names and making fun of my basketball shoes for some reason. She was definitely instigating the situation along side "Shawn Pizzi", and she lied as well.
6) "Shawn Pizzi" states in first interview that I walked up and started "complaining about the loud noise".
"Shawn Pizzi states in second interview that I walked up was "yelling and screaming".
7) "Shawn Pizzi" in first interview states he told me when I walked up that I was "in a dangerous construction site and that I was trespassing on railroad property". ( I was on Rivera Road)
"Shawn Pizzi" in second interview states when I walked up he said "he was sorry for the noise but that they were in compliance".
8) The whole time I was standing on Rivera Road, I NEVER went into the fenced off area with the signs you see. Sheriff "Guzman" states I was "standing well inside the property" (Rivera Road belongs to the city not BNSF)
9) Also "Guzman" states there were numerous "No Trespassing" signs posted near where the suspect was standing. (Again I was always on Rivera Road, never on there lot)
(FACTS)
* "Shawn Pizzi" is from 6"3 to 6"5 or more in height and he was wearing steel toe boots, jeans and a hard hat with safety glasses. He's a big construction worker who I could never win in a fight on my best day! (I also haven't been in a fight since Jr.high school)
*He has two workers "Ryan Proudfit" and "Luis Diaz" right next to him (also big guys) and about 20 to 30 more big construction workers about 20 yards away all in steel toe boots and hard hats. Some guys have sledge hammers and big tools. I would have to be crazy to take one or all of them all on. My only defense was my phone and it did help stop "Shawn Pizzi" from advancing.
* I was wearing a pair of glasses that I could never wear in a fight because they weren't cheap and I could get cut if they did break and that's not gonna feel good. Also I can't even see good enough to take them off and try to fight someone haha. I am blind as a bat as they say. I was also wearing shorts and tennis shoes and no weapons of course... What could I possibly do against 20+ guys in steel toe boots and hardhats?
* This happened on a day I was supposed to bring my mother who had stage 4 cancer to a chemo session at City of Hope in Duarte. I was her caregiver and I would never jeopardize anything that would prevent me from helping her out, she meant the world to me. Also, if you know anyone who has had cancer you would know that stress to a cancer patient is toxic. My mother had a huge amount of stress from this incident!!! (MY MOTHER HAS SINCE DIED FROM HER CANCER -June 10th 2011)
* This also happened a month before my wedding, I would never jeopardize my own wedding trying to "threaten" someone. And to start off married life like that didn't help at all. We actually had to make a small wedding even smaller because the wedding money ($1000) I was given from my grandmother for my wedding was used on my $50,000 "felony criminal threat" bail and the lawyer I had for a few weeks. And my grandmother doesn't even make much money to begin with, she is in her 70's. I've been out of work for a little while now...I have since paid $6,000 in bail money and lawyer/court fees!!!!
* I have NEVER previously been arrested in my life and I am 34.
*An hour or so after I was released from Pico Rivera Jail I then called the Pico Rivera Sheriff's department to file a complaint against "Shawn Pizzi" and they said they couldn't do anything about it. The man threatened me just 30 hours previous but they can't do anything about it.
* I was NEVER put under arrest or read my rights during the arrest. I was never even told what I was arrested for when I was handcuffed.
* I was held in Pico Rivera Jail for 30+ hours without ever being placed under arrest, all because of "Sean Pizzi","Ryan Proudfit" and "Aundria Schultz" lying to police!
I have called four or five times to CEO Tom Foss of Griffith Company and he has yet to call back with a response. The gentlemen I did speak with told me to o"get over it". It is wrong what they did to me. And most of all, it was wrong to stress out my Mom in her last year of life by lying and getting me arrested for something I did not say. When in reality I was threatened by their worker "Shawn Pizzi". I am just trying to get some justice, thanks for your time. Please never hire any of these people in the future and please BOYCOTT GRIFFITH COMPANY!!!
This report sounds EXACTLY like the Shawn Pizzi I know....
#2UPDATE EX-employee responds
Fri, December 01, 2017
I used to work with Shawn Pizzi at another construction company, and I have zero problem believing what this man wrote about Shawn.
I personally have heard Shawn Pizzi use disgusting racial slurs (some aimed directly at fellow employees) and yes, the word "f****t" which, in his rebuttal, he claims is impossible because "he doesn't think that way."
He was always ready to pick a fight with anyone he perceived to be challenging him, and he was constantly getting into huge arguments with all our subcontractors. We had a swinging door of subs because many of the employees of our various subcontractors would go back to their bosses and say they refused to work with Shawn Pizzi. So we'd have new people on site constantly.
He would tell the most inappropriate stories. Some involved his rather bizarre relationship with his wife. Others involved him punching women. Yes, that's right, he bragged about punching women. He is not a nice person by any stretch of the imagination.
A few of us even suspected he might have been abusing drugs during the time we worked with him. He would often come into the trailer sweating bullets when it wasn't even hot, talking erratically a mile a minute, insisting on doing various projects in the trailer, and bouncing all over the place.
He was fired from our company due to some very significant lies he told that were eventually discovered.
This man is a loose cannon and just a lawsuit waiting to happen.
Shawn
Los Angeles, California,
The more I think about it
#3REBUTTAL Individual responds
Mon, March 03, 2014
You know folks the more I think about this the more it makes me want to state the true facts. To start with this person is so deranged he has to post a picture of my deceased younger brother Phillip, who does that, another thing if you think sbout the things he calls facts it makes you want to laugh. How can he say that dispatch at the Sherriff department said they could hear the plates he did not call the we did. Another thing I have never in my carreer w***e a pair of steel toed boots. So lets review the facts.
1. Before this project started we did a pubilic outreach with both communities Pico and Santa Fe Springs, so if he is the protector of the community were was during this time.
2. There is know way that either Cities are going to allow us to proceed without proper permitting, lane closer, bridge closer etc.
3. The project had been going on for over 7 months and he is and I really do mean this is the only one to ever complain, on the flyiers that we given to the community was the contact numbers for myself, the mayor, directors, Andria etc, so why did he not call.
4. Do we really believe that law enforcement is going to arrest an individual for being victom and great guy?
5. And wow the fact he claims I called him a f****t, wow I don't even know how to think that way, hopfully it is starting to make sense and be clear to all you hard working people out there.
6. Yes he lived at home, but it was not his home it was the home of his girlfriends mother, and if you check they are still not married and probably never will be.
7. The most amazing fact and he discribes it perfect is, they everthing he claims that myself and my employees said and did to him is exactly what he said and did it is no wondering he has such great recall of it.
8. The bottom folks is, here is a person who life is so miserable that he has nothing better to do than to attach hard working people, I feel sorry for him it is to bad because he had many oppertunties to work it out that day and he chose to think that he could bad mouth, verbably attach people and he still is, so my friend what ever you name is I hope things get better for you and I pray for you.
Shawn Pizzi
Los Angeles, Arkansas,
I remember that day
#4REBUTTAL Individual responds
Fri, February 28, 2014
This is Shawn Pizzi,
I remember that day well and unlike the individual who wrote the report I have nothing to hide including my name. I do remember that day well this person walked arcross two bridges and a overpass rouffly 2 to 3 miles, walking through a Griffith Project screaming and yelling wanting to know who the idiot in charge was, keep in mind this was a massive project bridge expansion for the BNSF. Anyway my lead worker and foreman brought this person to my office the entire time he is screaming and yelling how he is going to shout the project down and physically threatening my workers. I approach this person (i would call him by name but just like everything else he has something to hide) anyway I asked him what I could do for him he proceeded in yelling and verbally attaching myself, my workers and my family after about 20 minutes of this my Safety Officier finally called law enforcement. Now law enforcement are pretty smart people we did not have to say a thing this person opened his mouth one time to many and they cuffed him. You must keep in mind here is a individual that at 8:00am in the morning has nothing better to do but attach people who are trying to earn a living and just doing there job and what they are directed, the reason he can do this is because he does not work, no in fact his greatest accomplishment come to find is to drug and party, Wow really that is the only reason he again attack me on this page because he thought that he could lie his way out of the charges and to the courts and they did not buy it either.
Just to be clear, I am not 6'-5" I am 6'-0" and some change, I did not get fired from Griffith I was laid off with about 30 other workers including supervisiors and my direct Supervisior Jeff, the Griffith Co. is a great company also I have a great working reputation and have the references to prove it unlike this person who just sucks the tax payers dry and trying to undermind good hard working people reeputation becacause he has nothing better to do. So look at the fact and all you intelligent people out form your own opinion.