The unnamed manager at the St. Charles, Missouri, restaurant is facing a misdemeanor assault charge after allegations she repeatedly hit a customer in the lobby of the fast-food spot on Sunday evening, according to reports.
A customer at a Missouri Popeyes says she was attacked by the store’s manager after she asked for a refund, according to reports.
The unnamed manager at the St. Charles, Missouri, restaurant is facing a misdemeanor assault charge after allegations she repeatedly hit a customer in the lobby of the fast-food spot on Sunday evening, according to reports.
Donna Kendricks, 53, spoke to WKYT and says she went through the drive-thru at Popeyes to pick up food for a friend’s surprise party.
“They told me it would be 12 minutes for the chicken. They were out of the mild,” she told WKYT. “I told them, ‘Not a big deal,’ and they asked me to pull forward, so I did.”
Hendricks tells the outlet that after 20 minutes, she went inside the store to check on her order and they told her they needed a few more minutes and they would bring the order to her in her vehicle. Hendricks tells the outlet that she complied but waited beyond the three minutes they said the food would be ready.
Hendricks told WKYT that another 15 minutes passed, and she was going to be late to the party, so she went back inside to cancel her order and ask for a refund.
The customer claimed to WKYT that when she returned inside the restaurant, an employee looked at the manager and said, “She’s back.”
Hendricks claimed to WKYT the manager told the employee to “get her out of here.”
“[She said], ‘I don’t care if it’s raw or not, give it to her and get her out of here,’” Hendricks told WKYT. “I looked at her and I said, ‘Are you talking to me?’ And she said, ‘Yeah, b****, I’m talking to you.’”
Police say surveillance video inside the restaurant shows the manager walking from behind the counter, grabbing the customer's hair and pulling her head down, according to KSDK.
The manager then began beating the customer in the back of her head, police said, according to KSDK.
The manager later admitted to police that she shouldn't have decided to fight the customer, saying she had "a lot of personal things going on and the situation got out of hand," police said, according to KSDK.
Another employee who witnessed the altercation told police it was the customer who called the manager the profanity and said that he tried to break up the fight, according to KSDK.
Police said the customer didn't complain of any injuries at the scene, but they were later told that she went to a hospital to be checked for a concussion, KSDK reported.
Hendricks says the doctor diagnosed her with a concussion, in addition to having knots on the back of her head and hair loss, according to WKYT.
“The shift manager did tell the officer she lost her head over the incident. She has a lot of personal issues going on. What those personal issues are, we don’t know,” said Lt. Tom Wilkison of St. Charles Police Department told WKYT.
The store manager was issued a summons to municipal court and is facing a simple assault charge. Authorities said a recent change in state statute requires officers to see visible injuries on the victim for the charge to be upgraded to third-degree assault, which is a felony, according to reports.
Hendricks told WKYT an officer on the scene Sunday was able to process her refund, although she said she won’t be back as she fears for her safety.
“Everybody has a bad day, but I didn’t deserve that. Nobody deserves what happened to me,” Hendricks told WKYT.
Popeyes has not responded to Inside Edition Digital’s request for comment.
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