A DoorDash driver, distinguished by her purple hair, has been taken into custody following allegations that she intentionally contaminated a fast-food order with pepper spray. This shocking act, which left a customer in distress, was captured by a doorbell camera.

The customer, Mark Cardin, and his wife were left choking and vomiting after taking a bite of their late-night meal. The incident unfolded just after midnight last weekend when the couple ordered from Arby’s in Indiana.

Kourtney Stevenson, the driver in question, was arrested on Friday and is now facing serious charges. She has been booked into the McCracken County Jail on counts including consumer product tampering and battery resulting in moderate bodily injury.

The Vanderburgh County Sheriff’s Office is handling the case, alleging that Stevenson sprayed the order during its delivery. The incident has raised concerns about food safety and the trust customers place in delivery services.

The incident happened just after midnight last weekend when Mark Cardin and his wife ordered food. Within minutes of eating, Cardin said something was clearly wrong.

‘I noticed my wife had started eating and she started choking and gasping, and after she had a couple of bites of her food, she actually threw up,’ Cardin said.

Cardin said he examined the delivery bag and noticed what appeared to be residue on it.

‘I had a look at the bag and saw that there was some kind of spray or something,’ he said. ‘The bag had been tampered with.’

Kourtney Stevenson was arrested Friday and booked into the McCracken County Jail on charges including consumer product tampering and battery resulting in moderate bodily injury

Stevenson was caught on camera could be seen spraying pepper spray on a food order

Mark Cardin, 42, and his wife were horrified to watch the footage back and see Stevenson appearing to spray a liquid, believed to be pepper spray, on the top of the food order bag

He then reviewed footage from the couple’s doorbell camera, which he says showed the delivery driver placing the bag on the doorstep, taking a photo of the order and then spraying the bag before leaving.

‘I pulled up my doorbell camera and saw that the lady who dropped the food off had actually tampered with it on purpose for some reason,’ Cardin said to Live5News. ‘It’s horrific.’

Cardin said the substance is believed to be pepper spray but stressed the danger could have been far worse.

‘We assume it’s pepper spray, that’s more than likely what it is, but now in this day and age, it could’ve been anything,’ he said. 

‘It could’ve been rat poison, it could’ve been fentanyl. I mean, my wife could’ve been dead.’

Authorities said the doorbell footage helped deputies identify Stevenson with her distinctive blue and purple hair as the DoorDash driver who delivered the order, leading to her arrest.

‘This instance was rather disturbing,’ Vanderburgh County Sheriff Noah Robinson said. 

‘Obviously, it’s not something you see every day, a DoorDash driver or a food delivery driver deliberately tampering with somebody’s food.’

 Stevenson was seen dropping the food order off before spraying it with what is believed to be pepper spray

The panicked husband says that they assume the substance was pepper-spray, but worry that it could have been ‘rat poison, it could’ve been fentanyl. I mean my wife could’ve been dead’

Cardin is wondering if he will ever order food again from the service and said he is using the experience as a lesson and urges others to stay vigilant and get a doorbell camera

Food delivery services often require photographic evidence of a delivery as it is completed to the verify the order is at the correct address and in the correct condition

Robinson said the case quickly drew widespread attention.

‘It gained a lot of attention even regionally and nationally,’ he said.

According to deputies, Stevenson told investigators she was visiting her father in Evansville and was working for DoorDash at the time. 

She claimed she was spraying a spider near the doorstep and said she is afraid of spiders.

Sheriff Robinson said investigators were skeptical of such explanation.

‘I am not an arachnid expert, but I do know, having been a southern Indiana resident for my entire life, that spiders don’t crawl around in the wintertime, and the low that night was about 35 degrees,’ Robinson said. 

‘Any spider would be warm inside its shelter and would not be crawling around somebody’s doorstep.’

DoorDash refunded the order confirming Stevenson’s access to the platform is revoked, saying the company has ‘zero tolerance’ for conduct that compromises customer safety 

Cardin said he contacted DoorDash immediately and then reported the incident to police. 

DoorDash refunded the order and later confirmed Stevenson’s access to the platform has been revoked, saying the company has ‘zero tolerance’ for conduct that compromises customer safety.

As the case proceeds, Cardin said the incident has left him shaken and wary of using food delivery services again.

‘We live in a terrible world right now,’ he said. ‘Horrific. People are mean for no reason.’