Arby's manager 'snapped' and poured hot grease on a drive-thru customer, causing severe burns, police say

• An Arby's manager in Alabama was charged with first-degree assault on Monday.
• The manager poured hot grease on a drive-thru customer following an altercation, the local police chief said.

An Arby's manager was arrested after police alleged she poured hot grease on a drive-thru customer on April 23.

Shea Denise Peoples, 50, was charged with first-degree assault, on Monday, following the incident in Hueytown — a suburb outside of Birmingham, Alabama.

Hueytown Police Department said in a Facebook post that officers took an employee into custody after they determined that grease had been thrown following an "altercation."

Authorities have not provided details on what triggered that alleged assault, but Hueytown Chief of Police Mark Yarbrough said Peoples "snapped" during an argument.

"We just know that it was an argument of some sort that just got out of hand," Yarbrough told NBC News affiliate WVTM. "I would say, for lack of a better word, she just snapped. All we know is that she got to a point, she went back and got grease and came out and poured it on our victim."

Hueytown Fire and Rescue responded to the incident, providing medical treatment to the victim, before transporting her to the hospital, per the police department.

Jameria Hairston, the victim, was treated in hospital for second-degree burns over a large part of her body, Fox 10 Phoenix reported.

She has undergone several surgeries, according to the Alabama television station WBRC.

Hairston has since filed a civil lawsuit against Peoples and Arby's and is seeking compensatory, punitive, and general damages from them.

"This was a very, very unprovoked incident," said Hairston's attorney Ryan Cannon in an interview with WBRC.

Canon claims that the altercation kicked off after Hairston was ignored while ordering milkshakes for her children at the Hueytown Arby's intercom. "Some choice words were said by the manager," Canon said, per WBRC.

Arby's did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment, but a spokesperson for the fast-food chain told WBRC that the manager's employment has been terminated.