A McDonald’s worker was arrested after allegedly choking a 17-year-old girl in St Petersburg, Florida. The violent altercation left the teen with injuries, according to reports from the police.
The incident, which reportedly happened earlier this month, stemmed from a dispute over ranch sauce, which the teen customer decided to fetch for herself when the workers allegedly did not assist her. Police reports state that the teen stepped behind the front counter to retrieve ranch dipping sauce, claiming that she had not been helped by staff, according to The Smoking Gun.
The accused, 31-year-old McDonald’s employee Akeena Sampson, intervened by grabbing the teen’s arm in an attempt to stop her when she was returning to the restaurant’s lobby.
However, the situation escalated when the girl tried to pull away from Simpson. That was when the McDonald’s employee allegedly grabbed the girl’s neck and took her down to the floor. While both were on the floor, police said the employee choked the girl a second time.
Petersburg police were alerted of the incident, and when responding officers arrived at the scene, they found the teenager with visible marks on her neck and injuries to her left elbow. Surveillance footage from the restaurant reportedly captured the encounter.
Sampson was arrested and later charged with felony child abuse. She pleaded not guilty to the charge and has been released from custody after posting a bond of $2,500. A judge issued a no-contact order between Sampson and the victim and has barred her from returning to the location where the incident occurred.
Many internet users expressed shock and condemned the actions of the McDonald’s employee. One internet user said, “I swear every sauce they give you comes out of the McDonald’s workers pay cheque; they guard those things like gold.”
Another commented, “That McDonald’s dollar menu saved us all in high school and college lol. Now McDonald’s thinks it’s fine dining lol.”
A third user wrote, “When I worked at McDonald’s my freshman year, I didn’t mind giving out extra sauces, but then managers started looking over our shoulders and threatening to take it out of our cheques if we went over with each customer. It was crazy annoying.”
