Newly emerged video shows the enraged Utah diner who went wildly viral for yanking down a teenager’s skirt pleading her case to cops after her arrest — telling them that she was “applauded” by others at the upscale steakhouse.
Ida Ann Lorenzo, 48, was seen in bodycam footage first obtained by ABC4 as she was questioned about the April 20 altercation in the lobby of Sakura Japanese Steakhouse captured in a TikTok video viewed more than 12 million times by Thursday.
Lorenzo was the first person to contact police, calling them several times to try to get across her side of the story before she was eventually arrested, the footage and phone calls show.
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“Everyone behind me applauded,” Lorenzo told an officer in one call of the 19-year-old she’d accused of having her “ass cheeks” hanging out, offending other diners.
Lorenzo also said she worked for the state — for Utah Attorney-General Sean Reyes — and felt a “threat on her life” after being accused of sexually harassing the teen, according to a police report obtained by the outlet.
In the body camera footage taken inside the police station on April 22, Lorenzo claims she saw the teen’s “entire [vagina] and butt cheeks” while in the packed restaurant’s lobby with children around — adding that a young boy allegedly pointed out the girl’s short skirt.
Lorenzo said she approached the unidentified teen to tell her she was allegedly exposing herself but was blown off.
She then reportedly took matters into her own hands and walked up behind the 19-year-old and yanked her skirt down — remaining adamant with investigators that she never touched the girl’s skin.
St George police department / ABC4
St George police department / ABC4
She continues to deny that she ever touched the teen’s skin and was only pulling on the skirt because of the children around — to which the officer informs her it wasn’t “her job” to do.
She again tells the officer that she got a “standing ovation from everyone standing behind them” after she yanked down the skirt.
In another phone call, Lorenzo tells investigators she would have called the police but believed their response time would have taken “forever” and that immediate action was needed.
Then, on April 24, officers asked the girl about her side of the story — with the 19-year-old saying Lorenzo made her feel “insecure” in her own body.
The teen tells the officer in body-cam footage that she felt “someone’s cold hands against my skin.”
At first, she thought it was her friend, but she realized it was Lorenzo — who told her she would call Child Protective Services for allegedly exposing herself.
The teen said aside from the “physical side of things,” she’s “mentally struggling” with what happened.
Police shared that other witnesses had similar claims to the victim about what happened.
That same day, Lorenzo was arrested at the St. George Police station, body-cam footage shows.
Before the officer slapped cuffs on her, Lorenzo continued to deny touching the teen’s skin, according to the outlet.
She was charged with a single count of sexual battery, a Class A misdemeanor, and was booked into the Purgatory Correctional Facility but was released after posting bail.
