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Fitness tech giant Strava fires senior employee after viral video shows her drunkenly attacking restaurant staff in US
Fitness tech giant Strava fired a senior employee after a viral video showed her drunkenly assaulting restaurant staff in San Francisco.
Fitness tracking platform Strava has fired an employee who was arrested after being filmed drunkenly assaulting restaurant workers in San Francisco when they reportedly refused to serve her. According to a report by KRON4, the woman has been identified as Shireen Afkari by the San Francisco Police Department. She was arrested following the incident at Hazie’s restaurant.
According to her now-deleted LinkedIn profile, Afkari worked as a senior manager of growth marketing and retention at Strava. In a statement shared on Instagram on Wednesday, Strava confirmed the firing.
“We are aware of an employee who exhibited extremely concerning off-hours behavior. We don’t condone violence of any kind and this does not reflect the standards we expect of our team. This past Monday, we made the decision to end the individual’s employment,” the company wrote in the comments section of a post.
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What happened at San Francisco restaurant?
The incident reportedly began after restaurant staff refused to continue serving alcohol to Afkari and a man accompanying her, citing their level of intoxication. Speaking to San Francisco-based media outlet KRON4, bartender Miguel Marchese said staff quickly became concerned about the couple’s behaviour.
“The night was quite chaotic,” Marchese said, adding that a server flagged the table as being heavily intoxicated and verbally abusive. A manager later intervened, removed cocktails from the table, and asked the couple to leave.
What followed was captured in a video that has since circulated widely online. The clip shows Afkari at the bar yelling, swearing and slurring at employees as staff repeatedly ask her to leave. At one point, she appears to lunge at the person filming and strike the camera.
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Woman in viral bar fight arrested
The video also captured another angle, showing Afkari allegedly attacking a staff member, prompting shocked reactions from diners. As employees attempted to escort her out, she was pushed to the floor but quickly got back up, flailing toward staff and crashing into another woman near the dining area.
Afkari and the man were eventually forced out of the restaurant. However, the confrontation continued outside, with the video showing Afkari kicking and grabbing Marchese by the hair as the group moved away from the entrance.
“She wraps my hair around her hand and just pulls on it for dear life. It was quite painful,” Marchese said, adding that she only released her grip after he took her phone away. Moments later, the video shows her being tripped and falling to the ground before getting up and shouting at her partner.
Police later arrived at the scene, and Afkari was taken to San Francisco County Jail, where she was detained on charges of public intoxication.
