Homeless woman arrested after allegedly throwing coffee in doughnut shop owner's face: 'It was so malicious and so barbaric'

Maggie Parker

A homeless woman who allegedly threw coffee at a doughnut shop owner’s face after she was asked to leave the shop has been arrested.

Stacey Rosen, 51, was wailing and disturbing customers, including a little girl, at Spudnuts in Canoga Park, Calif., on Friday, according to the shop’s owner.

“I actually asked her to quiet down because she was scaring the girl, or leave, and she said ‘Eff you,’ and threw the coffee at me.” Spudnuts owner Cindy Seam-Kao told Los Angeles news station KABC. That’s when things got heated, and Rosen allegedly threw hot coffee at Seam-Kao’s face.

The entire exchange was caught on the shop’s surveillance camera. In the video, you can see Seam-Kao try to fight back, but she told Los Angeles news station KNBC that she couldn’t because her “face was burning.” She ran to the bathroom instead to splash cold water on herself.

Seam-Kao’s employees came to her defense, telling Rosen to leave while the cops were called.

Rosen got away but returned to the store on Sunday. More surveillance footage shows the alleged attacker holding up a lighter to a poster hanging on the shop’s wall and knocking over chairs on her way out.

This time, Seam-Kao’s customers didn’t let her get away. Kelly Parra was there when Rosen returned, and he tailed her for a few blocks after she left, according to Los Angeles news station KCBS. He backed off at the request of Seam-Kao, “knowing she was capable of assaulting somebody so easily,” he told the outlet.

Retired California Highway Patrol officer John Lago, a family friend who happened to be nearby when Rosen returned, called the Los Angeles Police Department on Sunday. Officers caught her approaching another doughnut shop and arrested her.

“If you’ve seen video, it was so malicious and so barbaric,” Lago said.

Seam-Kao witnessed the arrest. “I was actually shaking and had chills, just from seeing her being arrested, and she looked at me,” she told KCBS.

However, Seam-Kao isn’t angry with Rosen. “I know she’s mentally ill and she didn’t mean to hurt me,” she said. “She didn’t realize what she was doing.”

This isn’t the first time Rosen’s been in Seam-Kao’s shop. “We’ve had her in here several times, but she’s just yelled or she’ll curse at somebody, but she’s never been this violent,” she told KABC.

“This is kind of a hard situation to deal with when you feel compassion for people and then it kind of backfires,” she said.

Rosen is under a psychiatric hold and is expected to be evaluated for 72 hours following her arrest, KCBS reports.

Yahoo Lifestyle contacted the LAPD, but they were unable to comment at this time.

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