Amanda Martinez: Texas 'Karen' who threw HOT soup at restaurant worker's face arrested
TEMPLE, TEXAS: A woman who was accused of throwing menudo soup in a Texas restaurant manager's face has been arrested. Amanda Martinez, 31, was arrested on Wednesday, November 17, by police in Temple after the video of the incident went viral. Martinez has been charged with assault causing bodily harm and has since been bonded out of jail, the Bell County Sheriff’s Department stated.
The victim, Janelle Browland, 24, works at the Sol de Jalisco restaurant in Temple, Texas, where the incident took place on Nov 7. A viral video shows the woman, Martinez, throwing soup at Browland's face after she allegedly found plastic in her meal. The video, posted by @section_8_, is surveillance footage from a Mexican restaurant.
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The overlay text and voiceover partly reveal what allegedly happened between Browland and Martinez: “She was complaining there was plastic in her soup and was offered a refund or another item, but she continued to be arrogant and then threw the soup in the manager’s face. The customer did not ask for a refund or anything; she just wanted to argue."
The video shows Browland talking to Martinez, who is accompanied by a man. Opening up the soup, the Martinez points to the lid and later throws the soup in the Browland's face. Browland posted a video on her TikTok account, @bummynelly, claiming she had a telephonic conversation with the woman before the incident at the store took place. The woman had allegedly claimed that her “soup was so hot that it melted the plastic lid into the container.” Browland said that she was sorry and offered her a free meal or a refund but the woman turned verbally hostile. When Browland asked Martinez not to talk to her impolitely, she allegedly answered saying she would “talk to her any way I f*cking want.” “I said ‘no, ma’am,’ you will not,’ and I hung up the phone,” she said.
Browland said that Martinez said she wanted to speak to the manager, but instead of waiting, she came over to the restaurant and threw the soup in her face. Browland had filed charges against the woman with the police, which ultimately led to the arrest. Broland said the soup, which was still hot, 'felt like she had been pepper sprayed' and caused her eyes to burn and her nose to bleed.
“I just want you guys to know I wasn’t alone in that moment, and I had a lot of support,” she said, referring to those who filmed the video and got the license plate of their vehicle.
In another recent incident, video of a White woman throwing her drink at a Black police officer's face while hurling racial slur is being circulated on TikTok. The clip, which is less than 20 seconds long, was posted to user @nwoha_nation’s account. It does not provide much context for the situation surrounding the incident, but a text overlay says that a “White girl” called a cop “the N-word”, and threw a “drink at him.”