A New Jersey mother claimed that she was held against her will at a café after her 3-year-old daughter accidentally broke a marble table worth nearly $1,600.
Kathy Denman said she felt “completely humiliated and embarrassed” after the incident and was told that she couldn’t leave unless she handed over her driver’s license and credit card information.
In a viral video, Kathy explained that her daughter, Allie, knocked over the table at the Hazelnut Café in Lavallette while waiting for her to pay for their coffee and ice cream.
She recalled hearing a “loud bang” at the register and turning to see the table broken into “a bunch of pieces.”
Image credits: beautihut
No one was injured, but Kathy said her daughter was “frozen and scared and nervous,” adding that “everybody’s reaction definitely didn’t help.”
She accused the employees at Hazelnut Café of having “mean girl vibes” and showing no concern for her daughter’s well-being. Additionally, she claimed that she offered to pay for the damages.
Kathy Denman claimed she was told she couldn’t leave until she handed over her credit card information
Image credits: beautihut
Image credits: beautihut
“I talked to the people there and said, ‘Oh my god, I’m so so sorry. What could I do to make this right?”
She said she cried after the incident and alleged that she was held at the café for 20 minutes.
Kathy said her 3-year-old was left “frozen and scared” after the accident
Image credits: beautihut
The mom said the owner kept repeating, “Our policy is: You break it, you pay for it.’”
She added that she was also asked to provide an email address and her and her husband’s phone numbers.
“I was so surprised because not one time on the phone did [the owner] ask if Allie was okay or if anybody else got hurt.
“All the owner kept repeating was, ‘We have everything on video.’”
Image credits: beautihut
The Hazelnut Café is part of Hazel Boutique, a clothing and home decor brand with four locations in New Jersey, as per NJ Advance Media. It is owned by sisters Kimberly and Jenna Campfield.
In a statement to the outlet, the owners expressed that they were “extremely grateful” that everyone at the café was safe.
They said they have since called Kathy “to express our concern, offer our support, and share our direct contact information should she need anything.”
However, the sisters denied holding the mom against her will, as she claimed in her video.
The console table is listed on Anthropology’s website for $1,598
Image credits: beautihut
“We also want to be completely transparent: we would never hold anyone against their will.
“The mother was not charged for the damaged table, even after asking how she could make it right, given that the table broke. We requested her contact information for insurance purposes.”
It’s not clear if Kathy actually handed over her credit card information.
Image credits: thehazelnutcafe
On Thursday (August 14), the mother posted a written statement on TikTok explaining that the owners had contacted her to apologize “for how our family was treated.”
The Pompton Plains resident explained that her family had accepted the apology and wanted “to move forward peacefully.”
“We have accepted their apology and are satisfied,” she wrote.
In a statement, Hazelnut Café denied holding the mother against her will
After her initial video went viral, amassing 10 million views, internet sleuths found the table listed on Anthropology’s website for $1,598.
The listing describes it as being made of pure marble and weighing 109.25 lbs (approx. 50 kg).
The Campfield sisters stated that they have decided to remove “all tables from our locations to eliminate any risk of a similar incident.”
In other news about children breaking expensive items, a 5-year-old Kansas boy knocked over an art sculpture on display at a local community center in 2018.
The glass mosaic sculpture, called Aphrodite di Kansas City, was valued at $132,000.
Kathy wrote that her family has accepted the café’s apology and wishes to “move forward peacefully”
Image credits: beautihut
“No one would ever to expect that to come into a place that kids are invited and have to worry about a $132,000 dollar piece of art falling on their child,” said the boy’s mom, Sarah Goodman, who speculated that her son had tried to “hug” the art piece.
The city received a check for $107,000 from the insurance company of the boy’s family, the Kansas City Star reported. That check reimbursed the city for all but the $25,000 deductible in the city’s insurance policy.
Social media users debated who was responsible for the incident
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