MIAMI (WSVN) - A bartender at a restaurant in downtown Miami is sharing her story after, she said, she was the victim of a violent encounter that left her with a concussion and a broken tooth.
Speaking exclusively to 7News, the bartender, who asked not to be identified, said the assailant shoved her to the ground — twice — inside Hard Rock Cafe at Bayside Marketplace on Sunday evening.
“It was so scary; it all went so fast, like the way his facial expression changed,” she said. “I’m like walking in like this, I have my head down, and I look up and see him.”
Surveillance video captured an angry customer gone rogue, pushing the bartender before walking out of the business.
“The guy comes up to the service bar, he’s just kind of standing there. I look over him, and I’m like, ‘No, you can’t be there,’ and he ignores me, and I’m like – OK, I come up to him and like, ‘Hey, sir, I can’t have you eating the garnishes; it’s for drinks. You know you can’t,’ because he was eating the fruit,” she said.
That was when, the victim said, she had words with the irate patron.
“And he was like, ‘What do you want me to do, [expletive]? Want me to spit it out?’ I’m like, ‘No, finish it, but like, I can’t have you standing here,’ and he just got really upset,” she said.
The bartender said the man called over her manager to complain.
“He tells the manager that he’s a veteran, he has [post-traumatic stress disorder], he doesn’t let any woman talk to him like that,” she said.
The bartender said she thought the encounter was over, but 30 minutes later, as she was walking around, the two crossed paths again.
‘That’s when he, like, shoved me, like from here, just shoved me down. I hit my head super hard. I got up and I looked around and like, ‘OK, nobody is going to chase after rhe guy,'” she said.
After seeing everyone standing around, the bartender took matters into her own hands and chased after him in an attempt to take pictures of him.
“I’m calling him like, ‘Hey! Turn around, turn around,’ to get his face,” she recounted.
The victim said she was able to snap several pictures, and the man attacked her a second time.
“And he turns around, he steps close to me, and he just smacks the phone out of my hand. And he, like, [grabbed me] somewhere in my face or neck, like shoved me down, and I hit my head like this, this time, and I got up, I’m like, ‘Oh my God, my tooth!'” she said.
The bartender had to undergo emergency dental work done for her missing tooth and suffered bruises from both attacks. She also said she was diagnosed with a concussion.
She said the experience has left her traumatized.
“It’s like become a trend for this violence on women, and it’s kind of being, like, normalized, and we see this happening a lot everywhere, and I just don’t want to be, like, let another one of these people get away with that, especially since he felt so comfortable doing it to me,” she said. “Miami and beyond, please help me find this guy so we can bring justice to this situation.”
The bartender said she is too scared to return to work at the Hard Rock Cafe.
As of Wednesday afternoon, detectives have not identified the man as a suspect.
City of Miami Police have taken a report on the incident. Detectives with the department’s assault unit urge people to come forward with information for the investigation and contact them at 305-603-6640.
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