Taco Bell fires employees in alleged beating outside Center City Philadelphia outlet
The reported attack was caught on video.
Taco Bell says employees involved in an alleged beatdown of a man and his girlfriend at one of the chain’s Center City franchises last month have been fired.
Bryan Reese told Philadelphia TV news outlets that the attack occurred the night of Feb. 24, when he went to the Taco Bell at 1037 Chestnut St. to pick up some friends.
One of the friends, Joe Boback, told NBC10 that the store was packed and that he had been waiting for 45 minutes for his order when Reese arrived. Some customers voiced complaints about the wait, Boback said.
Reese told 6ABC the employees did not appear to be working hard and were telling customers they were inundated by GrubHub orders, which took precedence.
“They knew everybody was upset. They seemed to be upset too,” Reese told CBS3.
Reese, a 38-year-old real estate broker, said a half dozen employees jumped over the counter and singled him out for what he called an “unprovoked” attack.
Reese said he retreated to the street, where some of the employees pounced on him, knocked him to the ground, and pummeled him. Other employees went after his girlfriend when she tried to break it up, he said. Boback recorded the chaos on his cell phone.
Reese said he decided to post the video Tuesday because the police and Taco Bell appeared to be slow in responding to his complaints. He said Taco Bell initially offered him a $20 gift card.
In a statement, Taco Bell 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.”
The statement did not indicate how many employees were fired.
Police said they were investigating.