A Missouri waitress was allegedly pulled off a dock and into a lake when she chased down a group of ill-mannered diners who tried skipping out on the bill.
Liahna Bertels worked the late-night shift at the Fish and Company restaurant on the Lake of the Ozarks in Camdenton, Mo. Friday when a party of seven strolled in off the dock for some food and drinks, WAFB reported.
Bertels said the incident was sparked when she refused to serve a drink to a woman in the group who did not have proper identification.
After sulking over the ID dispute, the group eventually ordered food but the kitchen was swamped that night and took longer than usual, according to the waitress.
The angry group said they wanted to leave over the wait, so Bertels offered to pack their meals in to-go boxes before they left.
Before they could pay their roughly $150 bill, surveillance video caught the seven of them heading back to their boat on the dock.
Moments later, Bertels can be seen high-tailing it down the dock after the brazen bunch.
She claimed one of the members grabbed her wrist and yanked her into the lake when she tried to tell them about the bill as the boat pulled away.
“When I hit the water, they decided to start laughing and cheering, which really hurt,” Bertels told the outlet.
“I was crying and bawling in the water and I didn’t know what to do.”
The young waitress pulled herself onto a swim platform of a docked boat about 10 minutes after allegedly being assaulted, the outlet reported.
The Camden County Sheriff’s Office launched an investigation into the incident and is currently still seeking information on the cruel customers.
The sheriff’s office revealed that the case is being investigated as misdemeanor assault.
They believe the suspects are from out of state.
On Tuesday, police shared an image of a man believed to be with the group who came forward and is cooperating with law enforcement.
The sheriff’s office shared that they “do not believe him to be a suspect in this case.”
Fish and Company General Manager Sean Dolven said he now has implemented some changes to how his staff handles any similar situations in the future so he can keep his employees safe.
“We’ve kind of got it now to where if you’re going to chase somebody down, let somebody know and take somebody with you,” Dolven told the outlet.
“Either way. That way there’s somebody there that can see what’s going on because sometimes the cameras don’t catch everything.”
