Woman to be charged for throwing hot soup at restaurant worker in attack caught on camera

‘My eyes were burning, my nose was bleeding, I was in a lot of pain’

A woman in Texas is facing charges after she was caught in a viral video throwing soup in the face of a restaurant worker.

The incident occurred on 7 November after the woman placed a call to Sol De Jalisco, a restaurant in Temple, Texas, to complain about the soup she had picked up from there.

The woman later returned to the restaurant, where she was caught on video throwing the soup at the employee who she had got into an argument with on phone over the soup.

The restaurant worker was identified as Jannelle Broland, while police did not identify the woman who threw the soup, reported NBC-affiliated news channel KCEN-TV.

Ms Broland later made two TikTok videos to explain her side of the incident. Both the videos have since gone viral.

In one of the videos, Ms Broland said the customer had alleged that the soup she picked up was so hot that the plastic lid placed on top of it had melted.

Ms Broland said she apologised to the customer and offered her a refund, but the angry customer proceeded to abuse her and later returned to the restaurant.

Ms Broland said she told the customer that she would help her if she stopped abusing, claiming the customer did not listen to consistent offers of a refund.

The customer was caught on video tossing the contents of the soup cup across the restaurant’s cash counter at Ms Broland, after which she quickly left the restaurant.

“My eyes were burning, my nose was bleeding, I was in a lot of pain. By the time I wiped it away and could almost see again, there were already customers and staff outside following her out,” she said in the second TikTok video.

Police said that no one has been injured in the incident.

The soup had cooled enough to not hurt Ms Broland.

“The spices from it are what hit me the most. I remember feeling the warmth of the soup, but my eyes burned so bad. My nose was burning. It kind of kind of took my breath away for a second because just the burning... I was really in shock from it all,” she said.

Charges against the unidentified woman are pending. She has been banned from the restaurant.

On Wednesday, the restaurant issued a statement condemning the woman’s actions and said customers must be respectful to staff.

“The Marquez family does not tolerate such behaviour, and we simply want our establishment to be a place where people can chill out and enjoy live music, delicious Mexican food, and the best local drinks — as we have stated on our social media accounts continuously,” Sol De Jalisco said in a Facebook post.

Police said the woman had left the premises before officers arrived. Ms Broland, however, said other customers at the restaurant helped her clean up and followed the woman outside the restaurant. She said the customers recorded the woman’s car license plate number in the second TikTok video.

Allen Teston, the deputy chief of Temple police, said in a statement that this kind of behaviour was not condoned.

“If a citizen believes they have received poor service, we advise them to remain civil until the problem is resolved,” he said.