HOUSTON – One local bar employee is now recovering after getting hit in the head with a bar glass. The bar manager said the customer was angry and had attacked the employee coming out of the bathroom.
“It was just so fast. It was so fast. We all had barely any time to react,” said Lindsay Beale, general manager of Grand Prize Bar.
Beale said the Monday night incident at the Museum District bar left her in disbelief.
“Every now and then, it gets rowdy, but this is a new level of rowdy,” Beale said.
The customer entered the bar with his mask half on and was reminded by employees to put it on, Beale said.
“We just want to do right by everybody and we want those who want a safe place to go to have one,” Beale said.
The customer is seen in surveillance video making his way upstairs where he is spotted again by employees, including Joshua Vaughan, according to Vaughan and Beale. They said the customer was then later seen going downstairs into the bathroom without a mask. Upon coming out, Beale said Vaughan attempted to give another reminder but instead was hit in the head with a bar glass.
“(Vaughan) just basically got out, ‘Hey, can you put on your ...,’” Beale said.
Within seconds, Beale said the customer had used the bar glass, which she said he took into the bathroom.
“(The customer) just took the glass, shoved it on (Vaughan’s) head and ran out,” Beale said.
Beale said employees got videos of the customer erratically driving away in a Toyota.
As for Vaughan, he was taken to the hospital.
“I ran to him. His head was gushing blood,” Beale said.
A bar customer took Vaughan to Ben Taub where Vaughan said he received 10 stitches.
“I think he was in shock,” Beale said. “He barely knew what had happened to him.”
His co-workers are now hoping the customer gets caught.
“If he did this to one person, he could do this to other people,” Beale said.
Beale said they filed a report with the Houston Police Department.
Mayor Sylvester Turner said the suspect involved should be arrested and charged.
“The attacker who brutally assaulted the bar worker in the Museum District b/c he was asked to put on his mask must be charged and arrested. Enough with this foolishness,” Turner tweeted.
The attacker who brutally assaulted the bar worker in the Museum District b/c he was asked to put on his mask must be charged and arrested. Enough with this foolishness. st
— Sylvester Turner (@SylvesterTurner) December 23, 2020
Anyone with information is asked to call the Houston Police Department or Crimestoppers.