“She sincerely regrets it and she wants to offer her apologies in person to the shopkeeper when she gets the opportunity to do so,” Lescouhier said in a video uploaded to Instagram last week, adding his wife was “cooperating actively with the police.”
The employee, who wished to remain anonymous, told CNN she couldn’t understand Xiang and tried to look at the label inside the jacket. When she confronted Xiang on the street outside the store, she saw the jacket was not from the shop. She apologized in English and came back inside, but was pursued by Xiang.
In the video, Xiang can be seen gesticulating angrily and shoving one of the clerks, before slapping her across the face. A photo shared with CNN showed the woman was left with a large red welt on her face.
“We can understand her anger but that does not justify her violent behavior,” the employee said, adding that the woman who was slapped suffered ringing in her ear and “mental anguish.”
“We’re not sure if we’ll be able to get a genuine apology through reporting this incident but this could happen to other employees in the service industry,” the employees said in a statement. “In a hope to prevent any future recurrences, by someone who abuses one’s power, we’re providing this footage.”
According to the Belgian Embassy, Xiang was hospitalized following the incident, but has since been discharged.
CNN’s James Griffiths contributed reporting from Hong Kong.
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