Woman arrested, fired after San Francisco restaurant altercation – NBC Los Angeles

A woman who was captured in a now-viral video engaged in a violent altercation with staff at a San Francisco restaurant this past weekend has been arrested and fired from her job.

The video that was posted on TikTok and then reposted repeatedly across multiple social media sites documented the altercation between Shireen Afkari and several staff and bystanders at Hazie’s restaurant in Hayes Valley.

In the video, Afkari goes behind the bar, holding up her phone to capture her own video and yelling expletives at staff.

Bartender Michael Marchese said he and his colleagues were trying to diffuse the situation and document it, but Afkari wouldn’t stop.

“She was quite enraged,” Marchese said. “A lot of people were like, ‘Oh, she was on the verge of leaving.’ She wasn’t. She ended up slapping one of the bussers, I believe.”

Video also captured the moment Afkari slaps a phone out of a staff member’s hand. From a different angle, Afkari struggles with him over the phone. Then she seemingly goes at another off-duty employee, who drops her to the floor.

As the video continues, Marchese has to forcibly remove Afkari from the restaurant while others remove the man who was with her. Afkari then grabs Marchese’s hair and refuses to let go.

“I needed to give her an incentive to let me go, so I grabbed her phone and, yeah, I chucked it across the street hoping she would run after it,” Marchese said.

But Afkari runs after him. He responds by tripping her. That’s when he heads back in the restaurant, trying to get away from the situation.

The manager who was on duty when the altercation happened said he was the one who actually cut off the couple because he realized they had already had way too much alcohol before they walked into the restaurant. They said that’s what set Afkari off in the first place.

Afkari was arrested and detained for public intoxication, according to San Francisco police.

She’s also been fired. A post pinned to San Francisco-based fitness app Strava’s Instagram account reads, in part, “We don’t condone violence of any kind and this does not reflect the standards we expect of our team.”

NBC Bay Area attempted to contact Afkari for comment but was unable to reach her.

As for Marchese, he said he wasn’t injured and appreciates people reaching out to him and his colleagues about the incident.

“People who work in hospitality go through a lot,” he said. “I’ve been spat on, I’ve been slapped at a bar before, homophobic slurs, been sexualized by guests. It just happens and, you know, you gotta move on.”