Miami Springs McDonald's manager speaks out after customer charged with battery
MIAMI - The manager of a Miami Springs McDonald's restaurant is speaking out after a customer is charged with felony battery after the crime is captured on camera
Surveillance video shows what happened at the restaurant at 4999 N.W. 36th St. on August 25th as a customer is seen slapping a cup of coffee out of the hands of the store manager, 26-year-old Stephanie Restuccia.
She told CBS News MIami's Peter D'Oench, "This was humiliating. I never expected anyone to do this to me. He even threatened to throw coffee at me."
She said she first approached him after the customer complained to a window attendant about a charge.
She said, "I overheard him not being nice. I heard him say you are not going to rob me. I told him I know though come here every day and have been coming here for a long time. I told him this is not the way to teat employees. I said I don't approve of your attitude. He started insulting me and calling me names. As soon as I pulled out the coffee he just smashed it and it went all over me and he left at 100 miles per hour."
She said she was burned on the right arm and chest.
"I got burned here," she said. "All the way up here."
She said, "The message I want to give everyone is for employees who are working in the service industry, you never know who is working at the other end. I know sometimes it is hard and people lose their patience but you have to be nice. You can not go around doing this to other people. These people get up early to make you coffee so you can go to work and if you can not be nice, do not be nasty."
Restuccia, who said she is the married mother of an 18-month-old child, said she has been the manager at the restaurant for 4 years and has been with the company for 7 years. She said she will not let this incident discourage her.
Shift manager Nayib Garcia said, "It is very disappointing what happened to her. Thank God he was arrested."
Miami Springs police say they arrested the customer, 64-year-old Elizar Ravelo, and charged him with felony battery. He came before a Judge in bond court and he was ordered to stay away from both the McDonald's restaurant and the victim. He agreed in court to do that.
As he left jail after bonding out, he covered his face with some papers and refused to say anything.
CBS News Miami reached out to him by leaving a message at his home but so far have not heard back.
Miami Springs Police Chief Armando Guzman told D'Oench that he was concerned about this incident. Just this week and also from Miami Springs, we saw cell phone video of what police said was a road rage incident in which a man got out of his car and struck a victim on the left side of his face with a machete.
Guzman said, "I don't know if it is stress or mental health issues but people are just reverting to violent acts to resolve disputes. If there is an issue take it up with the management or corporate headquarters."
He urges everyone to avoid violence.
"Obviously with this story and a couple of days ago with the machete incident, we are seeing the rage that people out there are expressing."
