Dine-and-dashers at Missouri restaurant accused of pulling server into lake: 'Disgusting'
CAMDEN COUNTY, Mo. (KOLR) — The Camden County Sheriff’s Office in Missouri is investigating a report of assault after a restaurant employee was allegedly pulled into Lake of the Ozarks last week.
Liahna Bertels, a server at The Fish & Company in Camdenton, said she was simply trying to get a group of patrons to pay their bill on Friday when the night turned ugly.
Speaking with Nexstar's KOLR, Bertels said the group had docked their boat nearby before coming in to eat. But they started to become annoyed after Bertels refused to serve an alcoholic drink to one of the group's members, who did not have their I.D.
"I said, unfortunately, I can't serve you a drink, and they got very angry about that because they wanted her to be able to have a drink," Bertels said.
Bertels said she informed the group of long wait times for food, but they placed their food and drink orders anyway.
But they soon began to get fed up.
"They said, 'We're leaving, we're done,'" Bertels recalled. "I said, 'I have your food ready, I can go and put it in go boxes for you and I'll grab your check as well."
Bertels said it wasn't just their patience that ran out — the group ran out too.
"Whenever I came out, they had got up from their table and walked down to the dock. I start running towards the dock, towards the boat," Bertels said. "The guy that was on the dock jumps into the boat and they said, 'You should have gotten us our food, we're not paying.' And then they started backing up and the guy grabbed my arm and pulled me into the water."
Bertels remembers hearing the group celebrating their bad behavior while she was treading water.
"They were backing up and they started cheering," Bertels said. "I was stuck in the water for approximately 10 minutes. I … was just crying in the water there for a couple of minutes."
Bertels, who is admittedly not the strongest swimmer, was able to climb back onto the dock via a swim platform from another boat.
"I was in shock and just absolutely having a panic attack at this moment. I was having a panic attack for over an hour and then [my coworkers] were able to try and calm me down, like hold me down enough that I could get changed," Bertels said.
Bertels credits her fellow employees with helping her after the fact, including the coworker who went to a gift shop and bought her new clothes to wear.
Bertels' father David is also a coworker. He wasn't present when the incident took place, but as someone who's been around watercraft for years, he said the situation could have been significantly worse.
"It's pretty much about one of the most dangerous things you can do to somebody is pull them into the water, especially deep water at night," David said.
David also doesn't mince words when it comes to his outrage.
"All seven of the people in the party knew they had ran out on the tab. Whenever she approached them, instead of saying, 'Oh, we made a mistake, we need to pay for our tab,' no [they didn't]. Instead, they put her in the water," David said. "I want justice for my daughter because their … attitude with her life is disgusting. All seven of them are absolute cowards. And I want to have their day in justice. I want their day in court."
Bertels said she continued to work through Monday, but the mental impact had not hit until the end of the weekend.
"I was so out of it and disassociated from everything," Bertels said. "It was just playing in my mind, going in the water, just, it would not stop on repeat in my mind."
Tuesday, the Camden County Sheriff's Office posted notices on social media, hoping people with any information would reach out. One person who was wanted for questioning has since contacted deputies, but they said do not believe him to be involved with the alleged assault.
"Any time we do any kind of investigation, we're trying to identify whoever the persons of interest are. They may not even be a suspect at this point," Sgt. Scott Hines said. "I think there's about a half dozen folks that were involved in this situation, one or two of them may be a suspect. The others may just be people that were hanging around."
There are officially no suspects as of Wednesday morning, but that may be due to a lack of evidence, officials said.
One of the biggest pieces of evidence circling social media is a security video of the dock which appears to show the group leaving for their boat, with Bertels chasing behind not long after.
"Right now, the evidence that we have is very little. We have the statement from the victim, and she alleges that she was pulled into the lake as the person on the boat was backing the boat out of the slip. What we need to do now is we have to get that person's version of events or we have to get some sort of hopefully photographic or video evidence that shows that happening," Hines said. "I've seen the video online and it's not conclusive because, you know, the victim in this case walks down the end of the dock and then kind of disappears from view. Now, from her perspective, I'm sure she can look at that and say, 'That's when I fell in the lake'. OK, great. We've got to take that at face value, but we still have to talk to the other side of this and determine the facts of the case."
Hines said officials are treating the case as a misdemeanor assault investigation.
"Our detective that's working the case now, he's looking at some receipts, he's looking at whatever the ticket was. He went back to the kitchen to determine what all was taken and what wasn't taken," Hines said. "What we know right now is that the allegations are misdemeanor charges, if any, but we don't have that perspective from the other side either. All that information would be forwarded to the prosecuting attorney's office and they would make the determination as to what they think it is that they want to produce in front of the court."
David Bertels added that he hopes this story reaches the people who allegedly pulled his daughter into the water, because he has a message for them.
"Every morning when you get up and look at yourself in the mirror, look what you just about destroyed. If you feel good about that, and if you can live comfortably with that, then live your life the way you're living your life," David said. "If you're uncomfortable about what you could have done to my daughter, then call the sheriff's department yourself and identify yourself."
Liahna Bertels said she's thankful for the support she's received over the past few days.
"I just want to say I wanted to thank the lake for all their support. Everybody here is such an amazing community and they have rallied behind me so much. I am forever grateful," Bertels said.
In the meantime, she's not planning on getting into the water anytime soon.
"I don't want to get in the lake at all," she said. "I think that that would be very traumatizing for me."