GRAPHIC: Bar employee assaulted by customer refusing to wear mask in Houston

HOUSTON (KTRK) - Police in Houston are looking for a man who attacked a bar employee after he was told to put on a mask to comply with COVID-19 restrictions. The victim needed 10 stitches.

Josh Vaughan was working the door Monday night at Grand Prize Bar in Houston when he and management say a male customer came in and was resistant about wearing a mask. Vaughan approached him as he was leaving the restroom maskless.

The man had a glass he used as a weapon on Vaughan.

“Before he could even say ‘mask,’ the guy just took the glass and smashed it over his head,” said Lindsay Beale, the bar’s general manager.

The glass broke into pieces on Vaughan’s head, and he needed 10 stitches.

“I’ve never gotten full on blasted like this. He was quick. He was fast. He got me good. I’ll give him that,” Vaughan said. “I’m glad it’s just 10 stitches.”

The suspect fled the bar, but surveillance video caught his face on camera and a cell phone captured an image of his vehicle. Police circulated his photo, and by Tuesday, they said they had a possible name.

“Just a jerk. Anyone who would do that has other problems, has other stuff going on,” Vaughan said.

Beale says the bar takes all the COVID-19 safety measures seriously. She wrote the list of rules that sits on every table and includes wearing a mask.

“We do have customers and people who come into this bar who want those rules and want us to enforce them for everybody’s safety,” she said.

Vaughan has been grateful for the support he has received and that his injury wasn’t worse. He will be back at work Thursday, surprisingly with no qualms about asking customers to mask up.

“Wear a mask. If you don’t want to wear a mask, please stay home. There’s other stuff to do. You don’t have to go to a bar if wearing a mask is that big of a deal,” he said.

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