Video shows anti-masker throwing snowball at hot dog restaurant before smashing window

Brick-thrower caused $400 of damage

A man was caught on video camera throwing snow at employees (Weiners Circle / Twitter )

A well-known Chicago hot dog restaurant has released video of a man who allegedly caused $400 (£294) in damages after he shattered a window with a brick.

Wieners Circle tweeted on Wednesday that a man hurled snow and then a brick at its shop after he was refused service for not following a Covid mask requirement.

“We refused service to a customer who wouldn’t put on a mask and they threw a brick through our window,” the hot dog restaurant wrote. “Security video to follow later in case anyone can identify the a*****”.

The restaurant, which has served the city’s Lincoln Park neighbourhood since 1983, added in another tweet on Thursday that “the brick thrower owes us $400 bucks and an apology at minimum,” along with footage of the attack.

It shows the man, who was not wearing a mask, walking out of Wieners Circle and collecting snow from underneath a bench before launching it towards the counter.

“He came back with a brick and shattered our door,” the restaurant wrote in a video caption, and released details of the license plate for a Kia Soul that was allegedly used as a getaway car.

Police told CNN the man was not in custody and it was investigating what happened.

Wiener Circle tweeted thanks to hundreds of its customers and social media followers for their support since the attack, many of whom have been called “Weiner Sleuths” for trying to identify the man from the video.

On Friday, the restaurant said it was able to reach a woman named “Karen” who owned the vehicle seen in a video cameras, and that “the person that answered was threatening, and denied responsibility.”

The person also “indicated we weren’t the first to call, sounds like the #wienersleuths calling a lot on our behalf”, wrote Wieners Circle, with a crying laughter emoji.

Its window has also since been fixed.