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MIAMI (WFOR) — A 21-year-old bartender is speaking out after she was allegedly attacked by a customer while working at the Hard Rock Café at Bayside Marketplace in Miami.
Surveillance video obtained by CBS News Miami shows the Sunday encounter inside the restaurant, including the moment the woman appears to be shoved to the ground. CBS News Miami is not identifying the bartender.
The woman told CBS News Miami that the confrontation began when she noticed a man reaching over the bar to eat fruit from the restaurant’s garnish station.
“I came up to him and was like, ‘Hey sir, I can’t really have you standing over here,'” the woman said. “And I noticed that you’re eating our fruit, our garnishes. These go in people’s drinks. You can’t be grabbing it directly from the garnish stand.”
According to the bartender, the man replied, “What do you want me to do, spit it out?”
The man then returned to a table where his wife and four other guests were seated. The bartender said she was later told by a server that the man was “aggressively glaring” at her and “beating his leg” for the next 30 minutes.
The situation escalated when the man allegedly blindsided the bartender.
“I remember I look up, and he had this face of like pure anger, and I see him get into this position and shove me from this part,” she said, gesturing toward her chest.
Surveillance video appears to show the woman falling to the floor. The bartender said the incident has taken a significant emotional toll, noting her frustration that others in the restaurant did not appear to intervene.
Following the fall, the woman attempted to take photos of the man she says attacked her. She told CBS News Miami that police detectives reviewed the surveillance footage and indicated it captured a second physical altercation.
“He smacked the phone out of my hand, and the pillar was blocking this part, but he seems to have gone for my face with a closed fist,” she said.
The bartender expressed disappointment in how her employer handled the aftermath.
“I feel really failed by my employers,” she said. “The party was still there, his wife was still there, and they could have questioned the wife, and they could’ve gotten information about her because he committed a violent crime.”
The Hard Rock Café did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The woman spent part of the night at Miami Police Department headquarters speaking with detectives. She confirmed she plans to press charges.
The Miami Police Department is still working to identify the man in the videos and is continuing to investigate the incident.
The bartender stated she will not return to the job, citing concerns for her safety.
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