A routine shift at a McDonald’s restaurant turned horrific when a 20-year-old employee was doused with scalding hot oil by a co-worker in an unprovoked attack.
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Jacob Smith remains in ICU more than a week after suffering second-degree burns to his face, neck, arm and back during the incident on 30 May in Yuba City, California. Police have arrested fellow McDonald’s employee Jalani Bluett, 23, in connection with the attack.
According to Smith’s mother, Amber Smith, her son was carrying out a normal workplace task when the incident happened.
“He was in the office getting ready to count the money when he saw out of the corner of his eye something, and he just turned, and the oil was just thrown on him,” she told KCRA.
Investigators have not disclosed a motive, and Smith himself is struggling to understand why he was targeted.
“As his mother, it broke my heart when he looked at me and said, ‘Why would he do this to me?’ ,” Amber Smith wrote in an online fundraiser created to help cover medical bills and living expenses while her son is unable to work.
The fundraiser had nearly reached its $22,000 goal by Sunday. It says Smith is engaged to be married and faces a lengthy recovery.
Amber Smith said the injuries have left her son in severe agony.
“The pain he’s experiencing is so excruciating that they can’t give him a level of pain medicine outside of the ICU,” she said.
Doctors are working to reduce the extent of the burns in the hope of avoiding skin grafts.
Following the assault, Bluett fled the restaurant and was later reported missing. He was “considered at risk due to a diagnosis and vulnerabilities”. He was located, arrested and charged with several felonies, including battery causing serious bodily injury.
Bluett is being held without bail as investigators continue to examine what led to the shocking incident.
“I want justice to be served. I want him to serve the time he needs to serve for what he’s done to my son,” Amber Smith said.
She added: “I mean, I don’t wish bad things towards him. I just want him to understand that what he did — really understand what he did — and the pain that he caused to my son is excruciating.”
