HOLLYWOOD, FLA. (WSVN) - A restaurant server was injured after she and her coworkers were forced to defend themselves when a customer became enraged and began throwing punches and furniture towards them at a popular Hollywood restaurant.
Holly Dulgerian, 25, was hurt when she was punched twice in the eye while working at Capone’s Flicker Lite Bar and Pizza restaurant, Thursday.
“I got rocked twice in the eye,” Dulgerian said. “It’s hurting.”
The 25-year-old, who is a mother and works as a server at the restaurant, provided surveillance video of the incident.
“He asked for a beer, and I told him I can’t serve him, and then he got really, really upset,” Dulgerian said. “He started cursing at us. The owner had to intervene and escort him out the door. When he didn’t leave, he got in the owner’s face and pushed her across the room, and that’s when I, out of self-defense, hit him to get him out of there, and then, he hit me back, and he also hit some of my other coworkers.”
On surveillance video, the man then appears to stagger backwards, and it appears the scuffle is over, but it was not.
“He kept coming back for more,” Dulgerian said. “I don’t know. That man was on something, I think. He was saying a bunch of crazy stuff.”
The raging man goes after employees, who arm themselves with chairs in self-defense, which forces him outside, where he picks a fight with the glass door.
Then, he returns inside of the restaurant and picks up a chair. He then launches a bar stool towards the employees. He gives the employees a few choice words, points fingers and finally leaves, but he would return minutes later.
A server then shoves a chair at the man’s face, and he finally leaves for good following some more finger pointing.
The injured Dulgerian called 911, and Hollywood Police officers responded shortly after.
Eventually, officers arrested 48-year-old Robert James Nessler, who was charged with battery and disorderly intoxication in a public place.
When asked why she stepped into the fight, Dulgerian said, “To protect the other women I work with.”
She said she was protecting her boss and that her “maternal instincts kicked in.”
“It’s scary. I’m a little shaken from it, but I’m a tough girl,” Dulgerian said. “I’m going to go home early.”
The 25-year-old said she was heading home after work, and she will see a physician at some point.
Nessler was booked into the Broward County Jail, and he made an appearance in court on Friday. He has also been banned from stepping foot inside of the bar and ordered not to have contact with any of the victims.
“Mr. Nessler, these orders mean you are not to go to this property, location for any reason,” a judge told Nessler.
As of Friday, Nessler remains behind bars and is being held on $1,000 bond.
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