An Evansville, Indiana, woman faces a felony charge after allegedly spraying food with a substance that caused customers to vomit during a DoorDash delivery.
The Vanderburgh County Sheriff's Office said in a press release that it was contacted on Dec. 7 by a man who said he and his wife vomited and felt a burning sensation in their mouth, nose, throat and stomach after eating fast food ordered from DoorDash.
The man told NBC News he noticed the delivery bag had been sprayed with something red and checked the doorbell camera footage. The sheriff's department said the footage showed the woman dropping the food, taking a photo, and then spraying a substance at the food from a small aerosol can attached to a key chain.
Detectives identified the woman in DoorDash records as Kentucky resident Courtney Stevenson, who told local police in a phone call that she was working at DoorDash while visiting her father and that she had used pepper spray to spray the spider, the sheriff's office said. But the department also said that with nighttime lows of 35 degrees Fahrenheit, “Indiana's outdoor spiders are inactive and will not be able to crawl on exposed surfaces.”
When Stevenson allegedly refused to be interviewed, detectives obtained a warrant for her arrest on suspicion of battery and tampering with a consumer product. She is currently awaiting extradition to Indiana.
A DoorDash spokesperson said in a statement that Stevenson has been banned from the platform.
“We have no tolerance for this type of horrific behavior,” the spokesperson said. “Dasher's access to the platform has been permanently removed and our team is assisting law enforcement with their investigation.”
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The New York Times and NBC News both reported that it was unclear whether Stevenson had an attorney who could comment on his behalf.