A resurfaced video of a Taco Bell employee knocking out an aggressive customer has gone viral on social news site Reddit, with users defending the employee in the comments.
In the original video posted on March 14 at the Swansea, U.K. Taco Bell, a customer shouts at a worker while a man tries to restrain him. As the customer breaks away, he knocks over paper take-out bags and appears to throw a punch at a worker but misses. The Taco Bell worker picks up the aggressive customer over his shoulder and slams him to the ground, seemingly knocking him out.
The man who was restraining the customer says, “What are you doing? What are you doing? Call the police,” as he flips the unconscious customer over, revealing blood from a head injury on the restaurant floor.
According to Wales Online, both men “left the premises prior to officers attending,” and no arrests were made. A Taco Bell spokesperson also confirmed to Wales Online that action would not be taken against the employee, saying, “We are aware of the incident that recently occurred in our Swansea restaurant. The restaurant franchise has fully cooperated with the police and no further action will be taken.”
Three months after the incident, the video has resurfaced on the Public Freakout subreddit, with over 2,500 upvotes. Many Redditors sided with the employee in the comments, saying that he was acting in self-defense.
“I just like it when messing with restaurant staff doesn’t go the way bad folks want it to,” one user commented.
“Self-defense. When the crazy guy swung on him, he instinctively just reacted. He didn’t plan. He didn’t have time to go look for his bear spray,” another wrote. “He looked horrified immediately post-slam. Poor guy. I feel horrible for people who have to work with the public.”
“Definitely self-defense. Also in these scenarios, I almost always take the side of the employees,” a third said.
The Daily Dot reached out to Taco Bell via email for this story.
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