Woman arrested for throwing scalding hot soup in worker’s face in row over lid

‘I really only expected this to be locally viral,’ restaurant manager says

A woman who threw hot soup in the face of a restaurant manager in a row over a melted plastic lid has been arrested and charged with assault causing bodily injury.

A warrant for the arrest of Amanda Martinez, 31, was issued and she was booked into Bell County Jail on Wednesday. She’s being held on a $5,000 bond.

Surveillance footage caught the moment when Ms Martinez threw the soup in the face of Jannelle Broland, the 24-year old manager at the Sol de Jalisco restaurant in Temple, Texas, on 7 November.

Ms Martinez confronted Ms Broland claiming that the soup was so hot it melted the plastic lid into the container.

Ms Broland said having the soup thrown in her face made her feel like she “had been pepper-sprayed” and caused a nosebleed and burning in her eyes.

Ms Martinez had left alongside a man by the time police arrived at the restaurant, which has banned her from returning.

“When I last spoke with TPD (Temple Police Department), it seemed like this process would take a lot longer. I’m not sure how to feel about being the one to put someone in jail. But I’m glad to see that she’s facing the consequences of her actions,” Ms Broland told KCEN News.

“We do not condone this type of behaviour and hold our citizens to the highest standard,” Deputy Police Chief Allen Teston said at the outset of the investigation.

Ms Broland got a call from Ms Martinez before the incident in which she tried to resolve the issue as the customer complained about the heat of the soup.

Ms Martinez went back to the restaurant later that day.

“I pulled my phone out and that’s when I said, ‘If you do not leave or calm down, I am going to call the police’,” Ms Broland said in a video on TikTok.

It was at that moment Ms Martinez threw the soup at Ms Broland. The manager was not gravely injured.

She said other customers stepped in while she was wiping the “spicy” soup from her face.

Ms Broland filed a complaint when police arrived at the restaurant.

“I was in shock, I ran to the bathroom,” she said. “I was just crying and this really nice woman was wiping me off with paper towels and wiping my face and my hair and was so, so kind. One of my coworkers took off her work shirt, put on her hoodie, and gave me her work shirt.”

“I really only expected this to be locally viral,” she told The Daily Mail about the surveillance video. “I have a lot of friends in the restaurant industry, so I knew they would relate to this, or at least understand my frustration. I had no idea I would be contacted by news outlets and have the footage shared thousands of times.”

Texas law states that if Ms Martinez is found guilty, she could face as much as one year in prison and up to $4,000 in fines.