A 40-year-old white man is spending some time behind bars after he was captured on viral video dragging a Black, female McDonald’s employee by the collar, yanking the young lady across the counter, over some sort of dispute.
The video showed Daniel Willis Taylor lunging at the young woman, identified by Bay News 9 as Yasmine James and grabbing her by the shirt at a McDonald’s in Clearwater, Florida.
A McDonalds’ employee in St Petersburg Florida appeared to have been assaulted by a customer who she bravely fought off. Follow us for more updates as we learn more about this story. pic.twitter.com/Ftv3B2zjhM
— Atlanta Black Star (@ATLBlackStar) January 2, 2019
However, James is apparently a graduate of “Knuck If You Buck” University, as she promptly begins defending herself swinging punches that would do Muhammad Ali proud.
You know what they say, run up, get done up.
Eventually, other employees managed to separate the two.
But what really got social media irate was the fact that even after the confrontation, Taylor wasn’t asked to leave. In fact, a manager instead walks up and begins speaking to Taylor, apparently attempting to figure out whatever his problem was in the first place.
“I want her a– fired!” Taylor could be heard screaming at the manager.
“No you’re going to jail,” James, who apparently stays ready, retorted.
“I was just asking you a question,” Taylor whined before the video cut off.
Turns out James was the one who really knew what she was talking about (no surprise there.)
Taylor was arrested and charged with two misdemeanor counts of simple battery and remained in jail on a $1,000 bond as of Wednesday morning.
McDonald’s provided a statement with ESSENCE noting “We share the community’s concern, and are taking this disturbing incident very seriously. Our highest priority is always the safety and well-being of everyone in the restaurant, and we do not condone violence of any kind, especially against our employees. We firmly stand with our employees everywhere, including our employees at this restaurant who were involved in this incident.”