Six Pennsylvania Taco Bell employees have been fired after cellphone footage was uploaded online showing them beating a customer outside a store.
Footage of the incident was shared on Twitter yesterday by victim Bryan Reese. The beating, filmed by a friend of the victim, allegedly took place on February 24 at roughly 10:45 p.m. outside a Center City restaurant. Police are now investigating, local media reported.
Reese told CBS Philadelphia he waited to release the video because of a lack of action from the fast food chain. The man's girlfriend was also beaten by uniformed staff in the attack.
"I was assaulted by a number of @TacoBellTeam employees, when I reached out to @tacobell for justice they offered a $20 gift card, they must have thought I said birthday not assault. I bet this would never happen at a Chick-fil-A," Reese tweeted alongside the 32-second video clip.
Philly @tacobell employees gang together and beat up 2 innocent people in the street, aggravated assault. @AP @CBSPhilly @PhillyDailyNews @tacobell @PhillyPolice @KYWNewsradio @PhillyMayor @NBCPhiladelphia @reddit @TMZ @ABC @FOX29philly @phillydotcom @NBCSPhilly @PhillyInquirer pic.twitter.com/zM4mxdnw5E
— Beasley (@throwdembows) March 5, 2019
The victim told Philadelphia's WPVI-TV his friends had ordered food at the store but were forced to wait nearly an hour. Other customers were also getting agitated with waiting times, which he said employees blamed on a barrage of orders from delivery website GrubHub.
According to Reese, three Taco Bell employees snapped due to the mounting complaints, jumping over the counter and launching into an assault. More then followed.
"I backed out of the store. They continued to follow me. They put me on the ground, and I don't really remember too much else. Except for when I got up my girlfriend was on the ground being beat, too. She wasn't even in the store at the time," he said, WPVI-TV reported.
In a statement, a Taco Bell spokesperson said: "We're shocked and disappointed to see this situation; we and our franchisees do not tolerate this behavior.
"The franchisee who owns and operates this location is retraining its staff, and all team members involved have been terminated."
According to CBS Philadelphia, local police are probing a similar incident involving Taco Bell staffers and a delivery driver that took place at the same restaurant last Sunday.
"We will try to untangle this and put all the puzzle pieces together," Captain Sekou Kinebrew told the news outlet. Those employees have now also been fired, restaurant bosses said. Reese has indicated that he will now push for criminal charges. "Nobody deserves what happened to me and people need to understand there are repercussions for their actions," he said.
