A coffee mug to the head sent a 30-year-old man to hospital Sunday following an altercation at an Abbotsford Tim Hortons.
Although none of the parties involved wanted to speak to police, Abbotsford Police Const. Ian MacDonald said onlookers who witnessed the incident told a tale of a surprise attack and an immediate response that left the coffee-stained instigator in need of stitches.
MacDonald said police were called to the Tim Hortons, at the intersection of Gladwin Road and South Fraser Way, just after 5 p.m. for a "reported fight" and to assist paramedics.
When they arrived, they found the remnants of an altercation – although the 29-year-old man most in need of medical assistance said he only fell.
Onlookers, MacDonald said, suggested that the injured man had sucker-punched an 18-year-old man who was sitting at a table with his 17-year-old girlfriend.
Following the attack, the girlfriend had immediately grabbed a porcelain coffee mug and slammed it into the older man's head, causing him to stumble and fall onto the floor of the restaurant, where he hit his head again.
The original assailant suffered a cut to his head, which was also drenched in coffee, and was taken to hospital to receive stitches.
The other man was not significantly injured.
Police don't know what sparked the altercation, MacDonald said, and without any statements from the parties involved nor video evidence of the fight, no charges are expected to be laid.
All three parties involved in the fight are well-known to police, although there are no known gang ties.
Last year, it was reported that Tim Hortons was removing mugs from some locations in favour of disposable cups, most likely to cut costs. Most of the chain's traditional locations, though, still use china mugs for dine-in customers.