52-year-old David Timbers was arraigned on numerous charges, including aggravated and simple assault. Timbers posted 10% of $25,000 bail and was released at about 10:00 a.m.
He shielded his face with an umbrella as he walked down the street.
Timbers told waiting news crews "Get out of my face. Talk to my attorney." He added "Go find some real stories."
Only Action News was there when Timbers entered Philadelphia Police Headquarters in Center City accompanied by his attorney on Monday evening.
RELATED: Watch the surveillance video
"No comment" was Timbers' only response as he walked into the Police Administration Building late Monday afternoon.
Timbers didn't want to say anything about the incident that allegedly got him in hot water last week inside the donut shop. The jaw-dropping moment was captured on surveillance video after a well-dressed man with a mustache threw a cup of hot coffee on a worker inside Fresh Donuts in the 3900 block of Lancaster Avenue in West Philadelphia.
Moments after the footage aired on Action News and appeared on 6abc.com, police began receiving tips leading them to Timbers.
"You've got a guy who's 52 years old, he's a grandfather, seven children," said Timbers' attorney, Chaka Johnson. "He's very remorseful about the incident even taking place. He definitely wanted to turn himself in before things got a little too crazy in the city. People were looking for him. It's not the guy he is."
Timbers thought he had already paid for the $2.25 sandwich. So when the 27-year-old clerk asked him to pay up, he lost it. Police say he went on a profanity-laced rant before prying the coffee out of the worker's hand and throwing it on her, severely burning her arm.
When asked what caused Timbers to go off like that, Johnson replied, "we haven't talked about it yet. Obviously I've seen the video that the police have put on YouTube and put online. But I can tell you this: it's not characteristic of who David Timbers is. The sad reality is, you've got a 25-, maybe 30-second glimpse into 52 years, which doesn't really give you a true perspective of who you're dealing with."
The clerk, 27-year-old Sok Caea, had moved here from Cambodia last year and was working part time at the donut shop to see if she wanted to open up her own business.
Timbers is scheduled to return to court later this month to face the assault charges, as well as charges of recklessly endangering another person and possessing of an instrument of crime.
Timbers is no stranger to trouble with the law. His rap sheet shows a 1979 guilty plea for carrying a firearm in a public place, a 1998 conviction for criminal mischief, possessing an instrument of crime and simple assault and, also in 1998, a conviction for theft.
