Chicago salon owner defends her actions after video of fight goes viral

CHICAGO (Fox 32 News) - A South Side scuffle recently caught on camera shows a nail salon owner kicking a female customer and the manager tussling with her after they say she took off without paying her bill.

Community activist Ja'mal Green brought protesters to "Nails Show Design" Wednesday on 103rd and Saint Lawrence. Green says the woman in the video has mental difficulties.

He confronted the owners, as police watched the tense talk. 

The manager of the salon says the video doesn't show the first part of the confrontation. She says an employee pulled out a taser just in case, then the woman threw the first punch. 

"She punched the girl in the face and then hit me too on this side," said Phuong Nguyen, Salon Manager. "And my glasses fell off on the ground.

Nguyen says the salon owner was wrong to kick the woman. Her talk with protesters only seemed to inflame racial tensions in the Roseland neighborhood.

"We just trying to live here and be part of the community but it seems like, I've never experienced this before, it feel a little bit threatened to me," said Nguyen. 

"They should feel threatened by the fact that we going to stop the cash flow going up in there," said Green. "They need to take their shop back to their own neighborhood. If you can't respect us when we allow you to be here and make money off us, take your shop back to where you come from."

The salon says someone else paid the woman's bill of $40, shining a spotlight on neighborhood friction.