McDonald's manager beat down with bat | News

LAKELAND, Fla. - According to the Lakeland Police Department, on Sunday evening around 10:30 p.m., a man jumped over the counter of a McDonald's fast food restaurant at 715 E. Memorial Boulevard in Lakeland.

He had a baseball bat in his hand and it was all caught on security camera. You can see customers inside the store running for the door as it was happening.

But investigators say what the camera doesn't pick up is the man swinging the bat at a manager and hitting him twice in the ribs. They say the man said, "All I wanted was some (expletive) food."

The 911 calls started coming in almost immediately after the alleged attack. A McDonald's employee says to the 911 operator, "I need the cops here right now. We have somebody who jumped over the counter and started beating one of my managers with a bat."

The employee goes on to explain what she says she saw moments earlier after she's asked if the suspect was trying to take money from the fast food restaurant that is open 24 hours a day.

The unidentified worker says, "No. He was mad because we didn't know he was waiting in line to be taken care of. He was standing in line. He was having his order taken, and whenever we skipped over him by mistake he just started flipping out and he left and he just came back and jumped over the counter and started beating the manager."

Lakeland Police say when that manager realized the customer had been overlooked earlier he tried to help him immediately. But the suspect told him the same thing happened to him the previous day.

The suspect asked for the corporate phone number for McDonald's, which the manager gave him, but detectives say he threw it down and left. Twenty minutes later they say he was back with a bat in hand.

Brittany Walters is a regular customer at the McDonald's store and says, "The manager is really nice and he's a new manager. They just reopened it with new management. That's kind of sad that people don't respect people enough to just leave stuff alone."

Jackie Howell is also a McDonald's customer at the store who says, "What's the world coming to really? You know what I mean? It's sad, very sad."

Police are not releasing the name of the manager involved and workers at the restaurant would not comment Monday evening. Lakeland police say the manager has significant bruising to his ribs as a result of the attack.

Meanwhile, Lakeland Police are asking for anyone who recognizes the suspect or has information about the attack to call them at 863-834-6900 since the suspect remains on the loose.