- Insider spoke to a drive-thru barista who was almost abducted from work on Monday.
- Security footage shows a driver wielding a zip tie and grabbing her arm through the service window.
- Baristas like her, who work in bikinis and lingerie, take extensive safety measures, she said.
This article originally appeared on Business Insider.
Auburn Police Department/Insider
A bikini barista described the moment that a zip tie-wielding customer tried to grab her through the service window of the drive-thru coffee bar where she works.
The barista told Insider that the apparent kidnap attempt at Beankini Espresso in Auburn, Washington, was a “random act” and that she hoped the man would be brought to justice.
Beankini Espresso is a female-owned coffee drive-thru whose baristas serve in lingerie and bikinis. The barista, who did not give her name, wrote to Insider through one of the company’s social-media accounts.
Security footage shared by Auburn Police Department on Tuesday shows the brief but alarming encounter, in which a tattooed pickup driver makes an audacious lunge at the server.
The Auburn Police Department is asking for any information to help identify a suspect that attempted to abduct a barista during the early morning hours of 1/16/2023. pic.twitter.com/w8qzJQs5ZA
— Auburn WA Police Dept (@AuburnWAPolice) January 17, 2023
According to the barista, the driver ordered a drink at the window and paid. Then he asked for change for a $5 bill — and when the barista handed him the five $1s, “he grabbed me,” she said.
The footage shows the moment: Seeming to reach out for the bills, the driver instead yanks at her bare arm, holding a slim black object described by Auburn PD as a zip tie. The man’s arm shows a distinctive tattoo that appears to read: “Chevrolet.”
After a brief struggle where he seems to attempt to use the zip tie, he gives up and drives off. Auburn Police said on Tuesday that they had arrested a suspect at his home in the city after an “overwhelming” public response to the footage.
Speaking to Insider on Wednesday, the barista said that she hopes that the would-be kidnapper is caught so that he can’t do this to anyone else.
“There is nothing more we should have done or could have done to prevent this,” the barista told Insider, emphasizing the bar’s extensive safety precautions.
The business owner “puts our safety number one, always has,” said the barista, who said she had worked there for several years.
“We have mace, tasers, silent panic buttons, we have metal doors — extra precautions for if someone were to try to kick a door in,” she said. “We have audio, video.”
If they get a problem customer, baristas are allowed to refuse service for any reason, she said.
“Our owner allows us to shut the window on any customer and handle every situation in the way we feel comfortable,” she said.
