NORTH FORT MYERS, Fla. — Spitting, punches flying and even a drink being thrown.
It all happened at a McDonald’s on Northeast Pine Island Road.
People said they think both men involved should’ve done a better job keeping their cool.
“Just self-control for the both of them honestly,” said Kyle Meiser.
Meiser said he sympathizes with the customer in the wheelchair.
“Either way, I don’t think it’s cool that you put hands on a disabled person to say the least,” explained Meiser.
It all started when a woman, who’s the manager, said the customer yelled at her and called her names.
She said they’ve asked him to leave before.
“It’s a reoccurring thing and some of these people that come in there, they get belligerent with the workers and the staff that be in these restaurants,” stated Jeremy Woolfork, who said he knows the manager and her son, Andrew Childers.
“I’ve known him, he ain’t a bad kid. He’s had some ups and downs like everybody else, he’s still young and got that young frame of mind… but he’s a good kid,” explained Woolfork.
The disabled man said Childers, 22, spit on him.
As the manager tried to separate them, both men yelled at each other.
The situation got even more intense when Childers punched the customer several times.
Childers then walked to a table, picked up a drink and threw it at the man.
Woolfork said Childers was just standing up for his mom.
“If that was me, I probably would’ve done the same thing. I probably wouldn’t have went belligerent but I probably would’ve grabbed his wheelchair and said you got to go! And took him out the door,” Woolfork said.
Childers left the McDonald’s and the sheriff’s office arrested him two days later in North Fort Myers.
“I think that a little more care and respect, that situation would’ve never happened,” said Woolfork.
Childers is charged with abusing a disabled adult.