Kourtney Stevenson was allegedly caught on camera spraying meal with chemical that later sickened customers

A driver for the popular food delivery platform DoorDash has been arrested after allegations that she showered an order with pepper spray in plain view of a doorbell camera, sickening a customer and his wife, according to authorities in Indiana.

Kourtney Stevenson faces counts of felony battery and consumer product tampering, the Vanderburgh county sheriff’s office said in a statement on Friday, addressing a case that is bound to be of significant interest to DoorDash’s 42 million or so users.

Stevenson, 29, allegedly told investigators that she used the pepper spray in question to try to kill a spider that had frightened her, but they did not believe her, saying it was too cold at the time of the delivery for that kind of creature to be out.

  • magnetosphere@fedia.io
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    19 hours ago

    Stevenson initially agreed to meet with the sheriff’s office, though the agency later said she backed out. Detectives subsequently obtained a warrant to arrest her.

    This makes me laugh. She agreed to meet with the sheriff, then realized how badly she had fucked herself. Surprisingly, the problem didn’t magically disappear.

    • Psythik@lemmy.world
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      15 hours ago

      This is why you never talk to the police. Don’t ever volunteer information. If they call/text you, ignore it. Make them spend the resources hunting you down. If they bring you in for questioning, the only words coming out of your mouth should be, “I would like to to speak with an attorney, please”. More often than not they won’t even bother obtaining a warrant for minor shit like this, but only if you don’t make it easy for them.

      • BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today
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        6 hours ago

        They had doorbell video of her doing it right at the door. With that kind of evidence making it super easy, they’ll prosecute.

        • Psythik@lemmy.world
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          9 hours ago

          Read my other comment in this comment section. I really don’t think that’s what was going on here. Cause why would she fuck with their food right in front of a camera? Something else is going on beyond the narrative the police are spinning.

          And even if the police are right, food tampering is in fact a minor crime compared to say, murder. The police only have so many resources. They have to prioritize what’s worth pursuing and what is minor enough to let go.

          • SSUPII@sopuli.xyz
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            2 hours ago

            Food tampering can absolutely kill someone, and it did. This is not the case of someone trying to pass petty items at a Walmart.

  • yeahiknow3@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    23 hours ago

    Don’t tamper with food, it’s a serious felony. Unless you’re a multinational corporation poisoning everyone including children. That’s acceptable.

  • Psythik@lemmy.world
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    16 hours ago

    I believe her, because why the fuck would you do this in front of their home with a camera, instead of driving to a secluded place and tampering with it there? I’m not buying the “too cold for spiders to be out” excuse from the homeowners, either.

    Something’s not adding up, here. Why would she tamper with it to begin with? Was the customer being a Karen to the driver or something? I need more context.

    • LesserAbe@lemmy.world
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      13 hours ago

      Well which is it, that she tried to pepper spray a winter spider, or that the victim had it coming?

      • FlyingSpaceCow@lemmy.ca
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        12 hours ago

        It’s frankly criminal that tips are a mandatory component of food service in Canada/US.

        You’re expected to tip a base amount regardless of service quality – as that’s how the pay/hours are structured.(If you don’t tip then you’re effectively stealing from the worker)

        The assholes who don’t tip (or under tip) get basically no punishment and are financially rewarded for their shitty behaviour.

        All while some servers/bartenders get laughably overpaid. (At least from my perspective as someone who worked many 12 hour shifts as a line cook way back when).

        (None of this is to say that tampering with someone’s food is ever okay)

      • Psythik@lemmy.world
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        12 hours ago

        I dunno about that. When I delivered food for an app, you didn’t get tipped until after the food was delivered.

        • Hazmatastic@lemmy.world
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          8 hours ago

          The apps mention that higher tips incentivize faster delivery from drivers to encourage users to do it. That would only make sense if you got a preview of the tip when the order is placed. If the tip gets changed to something lower after you’ve done the legwork under the assumption of a higher reward, I can see that being frustrating. I’ve also seen “If the tip is below $X per mile, I’m not taking the order” and similar comments online from driver communities. Haven’t done it myself, but maybe things have changed

  • Phegan@lemmy.world
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    21 hours ago

    I am not saying she isn’t a shitty human, but when a poor person puts shit in people’s food…jail.

    When a corporation does. Stock buy backs.

    We should hold everyone accountable for poisoning people.

  • yesman@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    don’t put shit in people’s food. It’s a serious felony as it should be.

    In my town a waiter put eyedrops into a rude customers drink. He went to the hospital and she went to prison.

    • naeap@sopuli.xyz
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      23 hours ago

      What kind of eye drops can that be, that are okay for the eyes but poison you, when swallowed? Oo

      Somehow my understanding was, that the eyes are much more sensitive to stuff like that

      • foenix@lemmy.radio
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        23 hours ago

        Nope, certain eye drops can cause renal/kidney failure. Your eyes are definitely sensitive to other kinds of chemicals, but the eyes and stomach can be considered to be different bio mechanical factories

      • Zorcron@piefed.zip
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        22 hours ago

        It can happen. Systemic absorption as opposed to only local effects of eye drops can have a big impact, and if you’re trying to poison someone, you’re probably putting in most of a bottle of eye drops (5-15ml) instead of the few drops you would put in your eye, so potentially a ~100x higher dose.

        Just thinking briefly about it, I think the more dangerous eye drops would cause lower blood pressure if taken orally or potential kidney problems depending on the drug.

        It would probably have to be a high dose to seriously affect a healthy young person, but an older person or someone with underlying health issues or other interacting medications could more easily be affected.

  • CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world
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    17 hours ago

    Wait, what was the order? If it was capsaicin spray, maybe they were just trying to comply with direction to make it extra spicy? /s

    • [object Object]@lemmy.world
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      6 hours ago

      Someone on Reddit recounted once how their friend likes food so spicy that they in fact carry capsaicin spray with them to restaurants and spray it on their meals.

  • zeppo@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    The “it’s too cold” logic doesn’t really hold up. A spider could be in a warmer place like indoors or her car and then have gotten in the bag. Of course, her claims don’t make much sense, either. She could have just fled. Of course, I’m no psychological expert regarding phobia driven behavior. Anyway, if she did want to harm the customers for some reason, that’s wild that she sprayed it on the porch and not just on the street or in her car. I suppose maybe if she did t want to get pepper spray inside her vehicle.

  • Sheridan@lemmy.world
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    23 hours ago

    Did she open up the packaging and spray directly on the food? Article doesn’t say that. Usually food delivery comes in a bag that’s stapled or taped shut, and the items in the bag are in their own closed containers, except maybe for fries. I’m just not clear on how the spray could have gotten onto the food.

  • Atelopus-zeteki@fedia.io
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    1 day ago

    My first question: Has Stevenson made deliveries to this address before, and what was that experience like? Is this an ongoing relationship with these customers? Or is this just a random act of criminality, in front of a camera? I guess I have a lot of questions.

    Edit: Don’t they like chili / spicy in Indiana?

    • phutatorius@lemmy.zip
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      39 minutes ago

      Two grains of black pepper in a large casserole counts as spicy in Indiana. They’re at homeopathic spice levels.

      • frongt@lemmy.zip
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        5 hours ago

        If the food stood up and attacked her. But it doesn’t appear to have been the case.

      • MountingSuspicion@reddthat.com
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        21 hours ago

        Not the person you’re responding to, but I had the same questions. They didn’t come to mind as looking for a justification, only that it could possibly give some additional context. If she delivered there before and they had gotten into a verbal altercation for example, it would shed even more doubt on any excuse she might make. I’m not saying there’s no way she did that for no reason or for her cited reason, but it’s possible that a motive for doing that might be clear if we had that additional information.

      • baines@lemmy.cafe
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        20 hours ago

        you ever work customer service?

        not messing with people’s food but i can think of multiple shit customers deserving a good pepper spraying