LEHI, Utah, July 10, 2023 (Gephardt Daily) — Police say a drunken diner hit an employee in the face with a piece of fish after refusing to leave a buffet-style restaurant Sunday night.
Officers responded about 8 p.m. to Chuck-A-Rama Buffet at 1050 E. Main St., where an intoxicated man refused to leave and assaulted three restaurant employees, according to a probable cause statement filed by the Lehi City Police Department.
Police say Cody Martin Ciao, 31, of Lehi, became combative with employees after they asked him to leave.
Ciao began using “offensive language” and then “picked up a piece of fish from a dinner plate and threw it at a female employee. The piece of fish hit her face,” the affidavit states.
Ciao then pushed the female employee and a male employee who attempted to assist, and later “hit a third employee in her hand causing her to drop her phone,” arrest documents state.
As another employee approached, Ciao “picked up a glass bottle of hot sauce and threw it, breaking the bottle,” police said.
Police say video footage from the restaurant also shows Ciao lunging at employees on “multiple occasions.”
“[Ciao] was seen in [different] parts of the restaurant he was asked not to enter. [He] was yelling at the employees causing alarm to employees and guests of the restaurant,” the affidavit states.
Ciao was arrested and booked into the Utah County jail for investigation of:
- Commercial obstruction, a class A misdemeanor
- Three counts of assault, a class B misdemeanor
- Criminal trespass, a class B misdemeanor
- Property damage, a class B misdemeanor
- Intoxication, a class C misdemeanor
- Disorderly conduct, an infraction
His bail was set at $2,500.
