Lake of the Ozarks server pulled into water after dine and dash
CAMDENTON, Mo. (KY3) - The Camden County Sheriff’s Office is investigating an attack on a waitress.
The server said customers pushed her into the Lake of the Ozarks after they refused to pay the bill. Liahna Bertels was working at the Fish and Company Restaurant in Camdenton last Friday night.
She’s a young mother with a three-year-old daughter and was trying to do the right thing by getting the group to pay their bill. Bertels said a young woman in the group ordered a drink, but she didn’t serve her because she didn’t have an ID. She said the people at the table got angry and then ordered food about a half hour later.
Bertels said there was a long wait and the group got mad that the food was taking so long. She said they decided to leave and she told them she’d pack the food in to-go boxes.
But the members of the group left. Surveillance video shows the group leave and walk down the dock to a boat.
Bertels then tries to catch up to them to remind them they didn’t pay.
We lose track of her in the video and the boat drives away.
Bertels said they grabbed her wrist, pulled her into the water, and took off!
“Whenever I hit the water they decided to start laughing and cheering which really hurt,” Bertels said. “And I was just like crying and bawling in the water and I didn’t know what to do.”
Fish and Company General Manager Sean Dolven said they’ve made changes because of the incident.
“We’ve kind of got it now to where if you’re going to chase somebody down, let somebody know you’re going down there, take somebody with you,” Dolven said. “Either way. That way there’s somebody there that can see what’s going on for sure, because sometimes the cameras don’t catch everything.”
Bertels pulled herself onto a swim platform on a docked boat after about 10 minutes.
The sheriff’s office said it’s hard to make out faces on the video. They’re treating this as a misdemeanor assault case, and think the suspects are from out of state.
The restaurant said the bill was about $150. Bertels’ earbuds were also ruined.
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