Homeless Woman Threw Hot Coffee On Donut Shop Owner's Face, Arrested

A homeless woman was arrested after she threw hot coffee at a doughnut shop owner’s face following a confrontation inside the store this weekend. According to reports, 51-year-old Stacy Rosen was taken into custody Sunday and was set to be put on a three-day psychiatric hold.

The incident took place Friday morning at the Spudnuts Donuts in Canoga Park, California. In the security footage of the incident, Cindy Seam-Kao, the owner, walked up to the homeless woman to ask her to leave for creating a disturbance. According to Seam-Kao, she was concerned the homeless woman's behavior was frightening the other customers and asked her to leave. However, she added this was not the first time the homeless woman had visited the store.

“She has the tendency to yell,” Seam-Kao told CBSLA of the woman. “She was scaring a little girl; so, I came out and went over to her and asked her, ‘Excuse me ma’am, can you keep it down?’”

“Just being loud. Wailing. Scaring the little girl. And that’s what concerned me,” Seam-Kao added. “I did not expect for her to throw coffee at me.”

A video obtained by local media showed the homeless woman allegedly arguing with Seam-Kao and then throwing a large cup of coffee at her face, which also splashed onto the front window. The altercation continued, with Seam-Kao swatting at the woman while the homeless woman kicked her.

Soon, other employees came and forced the woman to leave the shop.

Seam-Kao said she filed a police report with the city, but feels nothing will be done as there is a problem with homeless people in Los Angeles.

“I think like people are talking about it and tired of it but we can’t do anything about it,” Seam-Kao said of homeless citizens. “It feels like we have less rights than they do.”

She added that before the incident she was always sympathetic to those in need and always allowed homeless customers. However, she now plans to be more cautious about who she allows in the store.

Los Angeles, which had a reported 52,765 sheltered and unsheltered homeless individuals living in the major metropolitan area as of May 2018, has often witnessed problems with homeless people.

This is the third incident in the area this year linked to homeless people that were caught on camera. Owners of a liquor store and flower shop in Chatsworth also had violent run-ins.

“It’s gotten a little bit worse over the last three years,” Heather Skillicorn, a mother who brought her two kids to the donut shop Saturday, told local media. “We don’t let our kids go out without an adult.”

However, according to data from the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, 2018 is the first year in four years that homelessness did not rise.