A Seattle bikini barista smashed a windshield with a hammer after a customer threw drinks at her

SEATTLE — Surveillance video A tense exchange between a café owner and a customer was captured last week.

The video showed a customer throwing drinks at Emma Lee, owner of Taste of Heaven Espresso in South Seattle.

Lee retaliated by smashing the customer’s windshield with a hammer. The hot exchange occurred on June 11.

“Women are allowed to respond when there is danger in ways other than crying,” she told me. “This is something other women in the industry know about.”

She told me the video she posted online was a small part of the 15-minute encounter between her and the client who refused to leave. According to Lee, he was upset about the price of his drinks despite being a repeat customer.

“For a customer to exit the vehicle in any way, but especially threatening, arguing, or doing any of these things is absolutely inappropriate,” she said.

The video was widely shared and commented on. She told me that she had seen people giving their opinions about her actions but that she stood by her decision to break the customer’s windshield with a hammer.

“I was afraid, and I was also confident that he would not go further than he already did,” he told me. “What will happen next? What will I have to wait for this story to get even more terrible?”

A lot of the comments I read focus on her career. Many people have insinuated or directly said that she deserves or should expect behavior like what was shown in the video because of what she does for a living.

“I think the conversation needs to change from ‘What did you do to deserve that?’ to ‘Why did he think it was appropriate and what response did he expect?’” he told me. “All women, regardless of their job, deserve to be treated with respect.”

As for legal procedures, she told me that she contacted the police. Officers appeared and convinced the man to leave. She said that it was made clear to her that she was the victim in this case. She turned over all of the surveillance video to Seattle Police that showed the full 15-minute interaction.

“I’ve spoken to three or four different officers now,” he told me. “No one said a single thing about what I did. It was all about let’s do our best to keep him away.”

Despite what happened, she told me she has no plans to leave the job she enjoys.

“The majority of men who withdraw are good, decent, normal people who don’t see this as an opportunity to have a bad day,” he told me.

Since Lee posted the video, she said men and women have been keen to come out and support her work.

Seattle police said the man in the video could face a fourth-degree assault charge.