Last Saturday, an employee at a McDonald's located on New Orleans's Canal Street choked and punched a customer who repeatedly complained about his order. An anonymous bystander shared with Eyewitness News that the customer - who was visiting New Orleans with his wife for the weekend - brought his order back to the counter about three or four times.
When the customer saw that a video of the altercation was publicized by WWL-TV, he reached out to provide his side of the story. The customer, who also wished to remain anonymous, said, "“I'm a big, big boy. Bigger than he is, but I didn't fight back. It was embarrassing. I didn’t want to leave my wife alone in New Orleans if I went to jail. If this happened to me in McDonald’s what could happen to her on these streets?"
The customer admitted that he gave the employee attitude after he was unimpressed by how his complaint about his cold french fries was handled. However, he did not think it warranted any escalation into violence. The footage shows the employee coming around the counter to approach the customer face-to-face, and then when the customer starts trailing the employee on his way back behind the counter, the employee grabs the customer by the neck and pushes him against an order kiosk before punching him. The customer was left bruised and bleeding.
Although no arrest was made at the time of the event and the employee was even seen working at the location the following day, the customer now wishes to press charges. "I would like to see that guy in jail and my lawyer will take care of the rest," he told Eyewitness News. No comment was made by the employee and McDonald's is in the process of conducting their own internal investigation.