Waiter Slain in Smoking Dispute

SACRAMENTO — A 30-year-old restaurant customer is facing a murder charge after he allegedly stabbed a waiter to death in an argument over cigarette smoking.

Sacramento police spokesman Michael Heenan said Toby Titus Wade of Sacramento surrendered to police Tuesday about seven hours after the 3 a.m. incident at Lil Joe’s restaurant in north Sacramento.

Wade was booked for investigation of murder and was being held at the Sacramento County Jail, Heenan said.

According to police, Wade and the waiter got into a shouting match after Wade started smoking a cigarette in the restaurant and the waiter told him to stop. A city ordinance prohibits smoking in restaurants.

“It was a fairly prolonged, fairly ugly dispute . . . with (the smoking ban) as a starting point,” Heenan said.

At one point, the waiter announced he was going to call police and walked to a back office. Wade followed him into the office, where the confrontation escalated.

Police officers said witnesses reported seeing Wade make punching motions at the waiter. After Wade left in a taxi, they found the office phone had been ripped out of the wall and the restaurant worker had been stabbed.