Witness records customer pepper-spraying employees at restaurant in Chicago’s South Loop
Two customers attacked workers at a South Loop restaurant recently
By Sara Machi
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CHICAGO (WBBM) — Two customers attacked workers at a South Loop restaurant recently, and it was all caught on camera.
The fight escalated in just moments — and both employees were hit with pepper spray.
The workers have recovered. But they said it was shocking and painful — and now some people are calling for justice.
“It’s like the last second of it, you just — and that’s when I was like, ope! Time to call the police!” said Christina Song, who witnessed and recorded the altercation.
What Song caught at the last second was an escalation of a quarrel argument. Two customers got into a heated exchange with employees at the Tsaocaa location at 2026 S. Clark St.
Song said the customers took their frustration into their own hands when a male customer pulled out some kind of pepper spray.
Using a coworker as an interpreter, Tsaocaa employee Bo Pan said the customers had ordered their food through Uber Eats while inside the restaurant. This is a common practice that allows customers to receive certain promotional discounts.
But the customers became agitated by the wait time, Pan said he ended up on the receiving end of a fiery exchange.
“It felt like pure burning,” Pan said through interpreter Jihguan Chen.
Song said the man in this video had not said anything before pulling pepper spray — first on Pan, and then on a female employee.
“After that, I ran back to the other workers, and I said: ‘Put milk on his face, please, like milk or something,'” said Song. “So we were on the back just washing his face. I had a glove, and I was washing his face with milk to help get the spice out.”
Song snapped a photo of the couple leaving the parking lot — sharing their license plate with police.
Chicago Police confirmed to us they responded to a call about a battery and are currently investigating.
“I feel like people need more patience in life right now. Like everything is so fast paced. It’s like, just wait a little bit,” Song said. “Just wait a little bit.”
As of late Wednesday, police had not made any arrests in the case.
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