Daniel Taylor, 40, was charged with two counts of simple battery after he assaulted a black, female employee of a McDonald’s restaurant in St. Petersburg, Florida.
However, while what Taylor did was disgusting, the story has a relatively “happy” (BIG TIME quotes on happy) ending, as Taylor actually ended up getting his ass handed to him by the scrappy McDonald’s employee — Yasmine James — whose hands were far quicker than Taylor’s.
According to Taylor’s arrest affidavit, Taylor was in McDonald’s around 6:50 p.m. on New Year’s Eve when he reached over the counter and grabbed James by her shirt. After Taylor grabbed James, she unloaded rounds of punches on him.
Police say that Taylor kicked another employee, Tateona Bell, in the stomach as Taylor was being escorted out by management. Following his arrest, Taylor was taken to Pinellas County jail, where he remains on a $1,000 bond. He has since pled not guilty and has been ordered by a judge to stay away from that McDonald’s location.
The video, which has since been viewed over one million times, was taken by a patron in the McDonald’s restaurant.
McDonald’s released the following statement after the fight went viral on social media:
“Our highest priority is always the safety and well-being of our employees and customers at our restaurants. We have been in contact with the police department and are fully cooperating with their investigation.”
This is not the first time we’ve seen a fight in a McDonald’s go viral. In July 2018, two women going at it in a McDonald’s dining room was all over the internet.
In October 2018, 200 young students going into a brawl outside of a North Philadelphia McDonald’s.
And while this may not be fight-related, Trevor Hockaday, a 22-year-old former McDonald’s employee in Kansas, was charged with aggravated battery of a law enforcement officer after he allegedly put peroxide-based cleaner in a police officer’s drink.