Hooters Sued over Alleged Attack on Grandmother

The family of a grandmother jailed for spitting on an off-duty police officer working as a security guard at a Chicago suburb Hooters is suing the restaurant chain and the town, CBS News station WBBM-TV in Chicago reports.

Livier Torres was sentenced to 200 days at the Cook County Jail after being convicted of battery for spitting on the off-duty Oak Lawn police officer after she disputed her bill at Hooters.

(Scroll down to watch a video of this report)

Her attorney said Torres never spit on the officer, and witnesses and surveillance video support that.

Liver's son, Michael Torres, also said his mother assaulted nobody. Rather, he said, the security guard assaulted his mother Jan. 10 at the restaurant. The family has now filed a lawsuit.

The incident started when Torres and her daughter went to the Hooters for a girls' night out, her son said. When they received the check, they discovered a charge that didn't belong.

Torres told the waitress she would not pay for the item she hadn't ordered. The waitress then left to get someone else. But instead of getting the manager, she got the off-duty police officer, Joseph Schmidt, according to her son.

Schmidt ordered Torres to pay the entire bill. After a talk with the manager, she agreed to pay the bill and handed over her credit card, her son said.

"I guess they had settled it right then and there, but I guess the security guard was having a bad day that day and was just provoking her and getting mad, leaning up against her with his elbows out," Michael Torres said.

Torres pushed back to get the man off, her son said.

"As a woman, of course, you're not going to let a man get up on you like that," he said.

At that point, Michael Torres said, the security officer said, "a smart remark, saying, 'All you guys are the same,' which means trying to say, 'All Mexicans are the same.'"

This prompted Torres to get upset and yell back, her son said. As the manager took her credit card and finalized her payment, she told the officer he shouldn't get in people's faces and confront people, Michael Torres said.

But Schmidt was "still trying to provoke her to get her mad," Michael Torres said.

Surveillance video shows Schmidt, who is much larger than Torres, getting into a heated argument with her. At one point, her daughter tried to separate them.

Schmidt was wearing a shirt that said "police" on the back, even though he was off duty from his job as an Oak Lawn police officer and working as a private security guard for the Hooters.

Michael Torres said the manager returned with his mother's credit card receipt, and she turned around to sign it. At that point, he said, the officer "grabbed her from behind slammed her down, and tried keeping her down by her hair."

In the video, the officer grabs Torres, places her in a headlock and takes her to the floor. Others crowded around the scene as they see the scuffle.

But when the crowd rushed to her defense, the security officer said he was also a police officer, Michael Torres said.

He said on-duty officers came soon afterward and that his mother was arrested.

"He got on his walkie talkie right away and, not even two or three minutes later, the cops were there, like real fast," Michael Torres said.

While Torres was in the squad car waiting to be taken away, a Hooters employee brought out the bill for her to sign, her son said.

The off-duty officer said Torres had spat in his face, and she was charged with assault, convicted and sentenced to 200 days in the maximum security women's section of the Cook County Jail, her son said.

"But in the video, you can see that she's innocent," said Michael Torres. "She never spit on the man at all, and he was provoking her, and he went overboard with what he did."

While Torres and her daughter had shared a pitcher of beer, no one was drinking heavily, Michael Torres said.

"All they were trying to do is have a good time, and this guy came and just ruined their night," he said.

Michael Torres said the situation reminded him of the February 2007 incident in which Chicago Police Officer Anthony Abbate brutally beat a bartender half his size after she refused to serve him another drink. That incident made national headlines and damaged the reputation of the entire department.

"You always see stuff like that on TV," said Michael Torres. "You never think it would actually happen to someone in your family."

Michael Torres has a son of his own who celebrated his 5th birthday Wednesday. The boy was recently diagnosed with autism, and his mother frequently helped out and spent time with the boy.

"She was a big part of his life, and he's always asking, 'Where's she at now?'" Michael Torres said. "He doesn't really understand where she's at. I just tell him, you know, 'She's at home.'"

The lawsuit seeks more than $180,000 from Hooters. The Village of Oak Lawn is also listed as a defendant.

The mayor of Oak Lawn said the first he heard of the January incident was Wednesday. He's now investigating.

No complaint was ever filed against the officer. He's still on the force.

Hooters issued a statement, which says in part: "a full review of the security video and the testimony of several eye witnesses was enough to convict the plaintiff of crimes including assault and resisting arrest."

Hooters also points out Torres' numerous prior convictions. Among them, court records show, are multiple violations of driving under the influence, battery, an arrest for shoplifting and false personation of a public employee.

Michael Torres is also trying to raise money to fund the appeal of his mother's conviction. He said he hopes she can be released from jail before Christmas.