A McDonald’s shift manager has suffered serious burns to his face and upper body after one of his co-workers allegedly threw hot cooking oil at him.
The incident took place on June 6 in Yuba City, Northern California. Shift manager Jacob Smith (20) and his co-worker Jalana Bluett (23) had reportedly just finished their shifts. Then, for reasons still unclear, Bluett is said to have doused Smith with the oil and fled the scene.
Yuba City Police Lt. Michael Bullard told ABC 10 what he discovered when he arrived on the scene, saying, “the victim was up walking around ambulatory and able to communicate with them, but had obvious burn marks on his upper torso and his face area.”
Bluett was later found and arrested by the Sutter County Sheriff’s Office shortly after midnight. This came after an official plea for assistance from the public, with Bluett described as someone “considered at risk due to a diagnosis and vulnerabilities.”
Bullard explained that Bluett is being held in Sutter County jail without bail, and will answer “on assault with a deadly weapon, mayhem, serious felony assault resulting in great bodily injury”, with arraignment to follow.
“I don’t wish bad things towards him”
Meanwhile, Jacob was rushed to the hospital with burns to his face, neck, right arm, and back, covering 22% of his body in total. His mom, Amber Smith, told KCRA:
“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. The pain he’s experiencing is so excruciating that they can’t give him a level of pain medicine outside of the ICU.”
She underlined that she wants justice:
“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. 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.”
According to a GoFundMe created to support Smith, he’ll undergo skin graft surgery this week to help treat his “deep burns”. That includes a message from Smith himself, who thanked everyone for their kind words and support:
“As much as I want to be angry, or want to hate people and be scared of people, it’s just so hard to be when I have so many people showing their love for me. I’m not sad, and I’m not angry, and the pain doesn’t cause me grief because I know it’s necessary to heal. I’m so thankful for everybody.”
“Thank you to God for saving my eye and giving me awesome family and friends. Thank you to my family for being so incredibly supportive and loving and lifting me up in my time of need. Thank you to my friends who have shown so much care and taken time out of their own schedules to check on me every day.”
The GoFundMe has already raised over $100,000 to help Smith’s recovery, including a single donation of $25,000.
