UPDATE: Man Arrested After Assaulting, Not One but, TWO McDonald's Employees!
More details have surfaced after an altercation at a Florida McDonald's on New Year's Eve, The woman who recorded the incident, Brenda Biandudi, spoke to the Washington Post and gave them a play-by-play account of what happened before, during and after the video.
Earlier reports stated that the argument started over a straw and Ms. Biandudi did verify those claims. She said Taylor became enraged when there were no straws in the lobby near the restaurant's condiments.
Some folks would think that this was just an oversight but it's actually not. According to the Tampa Bay Times the St. Petersburg City Council voted last month to ban plastic straws by 2020, beginning with a grace period in 2019 in which customers must specifically request plastic straws at city businesses.
Not having access to straws must have been the last straw because Daniel Taylor lost his cool and got what was coming to him.
If you need to refresh your memory, take a look.
"Biandudi said she stopped recording after that and went outside to get her daughter in the parking lot. She soon returned, knowing someone behind the counter had called police, and stayed in case officers wanted to review the video she had taken.
By then, the belligerent customer was verbally accosting the manager — a part of the incident she didn’t capture on camera, she said.
“He came back in the store and went behind the counter and got in the manager’s face,” Biandudi said. “And another employee, a bigger guy, he actually grabbed the guy and put him outside the door and locked the door.”
By the time police arrived, the man had left the McDonald’s, she said."
The arrest record fully corroborate's Biandudi's verbal account about another employee being injured. The report says the other victim was female as well.
“The victim was kicked in the stomach by the defendant, and was complaining of pain,” police stated in an affidavit. “The defendant was being escorted out of the business by management due to him battering another employee, and causing a disturbance. The defendant kicked the victim in the stomach while she was standing near the exit door.”
Almost everyone who's seen the video not only questions Daniel Taylor's actions but those of the other employees who seemed to stand by while the argument escalated. This particular restaurant has stopped answering their phones but their corporate office has released a statement saying "Our highest priority is always the safety and well-being of our employees and customers at our restaurants."
Ms. Biandudi is fully aware of the criticism that the other staff have garnered after the viral video as well. “I don’t really have any criticisms about the way the staff handled it,” Biandudi said. “I’m not trying to get anybody in trouble. ... I just hope [the customer] gets some help and his anger issues resolved.”
Taylor definitely needs help but so does the entire country.
We reported earlier that the cashier, identified as Yasmine James who is not a minor, was not fired however, there has been conflicting evidence.
I personally reached out to Ms. James to see if she is still indeed employed. At this time she has not responded.
We sincerely hope, for the sake of the company, that she hasn't been fired or placed on leave for something that honestly wasn't her fault. Women have every right to defend themselves against the abuse.
