New Yorker allegedly pours 'bucket of urine' on TikTok photo booth owner, sued for $500k

Owners of a TikTok-famous

vintage photo booth

in New York have sued their neighbor, Maggie Trakas, for engaging in aggressive and unsanitary behavior towards them and their customers. Trakas was so upset by the photo booth set up next door to her Lower East Side home that she allegedly threw a bucket of urine onto the owners and customers, according to the lawsuit.
Zoë Lazerson and Brandon Minton, the owners of the popular vintage photo booth located on the Lower East Side in New York City, claim that since opening in December, Trakas has been attempting to disrupt their business. The lawsuit alleges that Trakas has thrown a bucket of urine from her second-story window onto Minton and waiting customers, painted feces along the booth's fence and planters, and made verbal and physical threats.
"This is war!" Trakas reportedly said the day after the booth relocated to its new, more popular location at 145 Allen St. on December 9, according to the lawsuit.
'Poured a bucket of urine onto Minton’s head'

On January 5, the lawsuit claims Trakas “leaned out of her second-floor window and poured a bucket of urine directly onto Minton’s head, causing the urine to splash onto queuing customers.” It adds that responding police officers and paramedics confirmed the substance was urine.
“While the police and paramedics were writing reports of the incident, Trakas was laughing and taunting the plaintiffs and customers,” the suit states, also alleging she had been drunk earlier in the day and knocked Minton’s phone out of his hands.
“I threw vinegar on him later that day,” Trakas said, as quoted by the New York Post. “It was not urine.”
“It was cleaning vinegar because he’s been calling me and threatening me,” she said, claiming he referred to her as a “scum bag, Karen, miserable bitch.”
She also denied assaulting Minton, saying that he was shoving his phone in her face.
Allegations of ‘Deranged’ behavior
The lawsuit alleges that the truly "deranged" actions started this month when Trakas referred to booth visitors as “narcissistic r—-ds” on January 2.
“I said it was narcissism on steroids,” Trakas told The New York Post.
The following day, according to the lawsuit, Minton found “frozen urine” on a chair next to the photo booth.
Trakas admits to supergluing locks on Minton's maintenance van, claiming it was in response to him vandalizing her bikes.
Feces vandalism alleged by owners
The most serious allegation in the lawsuit involves Trakas allegedly painting a plywood board with feces and dumping the remains into planters installed by Minton.
Minton claims that he arrived at his booth one morning to find it covered in a foul-smelling substance. In the complaint, Minton says that he "observed what appeared to be feces smeared and dumped all around [a] planter box." He also alleges that video footage from the night of the incident shows Trakas using "a paint can filled with brown liquid feces" to deface a plywood board he had recently installed to block her view of the booth. Minton claims that he and his team had to wear KN-95 masks and spend over three hours cleaning the booth.
The lawsuit seeks damages for the alleged vandalism and the time and effort required to restore the photo booth to its original condition. In addition to seeking over $500,000 in damages, the social media influencers have already been granted a temporary restraining order, preventing Trakas from interfering with or vandalizing the booth.
Trakas alleges money extortion
Trakas denies the allegations of throwing urine and claims that the lawsuit is an attempt by the booth owners to extort money from her before the potential ban of TikTok, the platform largely responsible for the booth's popularity, according to a report by New York Post.
"On the weekends and over the holidays, it has been unmanageable," Trakas said, referring to the long lines of people waiting to use the photo booth. "We're talking up to hundreds of people on the line, all the same age demographic. No one local, not even NYU."
To Trakas, the lawsuit represents “wealthy kids from Utah who showed up in 2023” attempting to “exploit” her.
“My sense is because this is a TikTok sensation and Sunday, TikTok might be going away, he’s getting nervous and coming after me and fabricating incredible lies,” Trakas said.
The case is ongoing, and both parties maintain their respective positions on the alleged incidents.