Driver runs down fast-food worker over missing chicken strip, lack of ranch sauce
Talanye Carter, 41, remains detained on two counts of assault, according to police
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A Missouri woman flew into a rage after allegedly getting shorted on a fast-food order, then got behind the wheel of her car and ran down the store manager when she didn’t get her dipping sauce, police say.
The unnerving incident took place at a Jack in the Box restaurant in the city’s Central West End neighborhood, according to a probable cause affidavit filed in St. Louis Circuit Court.
Local Fox affiliate KTVI first reported the case.
On July 16, the affidavit says, Talanye L Carter, 41, showed up and “complained about a missing single chicken strip from the order she received from the restaurant the previous Saturday evening.”
In response, the manager, whose name is redacted in the affidavit, replaced the missing strip, the affidavit goes on.
“However, [Carter] became unhappy with the lack of ranch dressing provided and then spit in [the manager’s] face,” it states.
The manager then followed Carter out to the parking lot to try and get her license plate number, which set Carter off anew, according to the affidavit.
After knocking the manager with her shoulder, Carter entered her vehicle, threw it into reverse, and accelerated backward, “striking [the manager’s] left foot and ankle and throwing her to the ground,” according to the affidavit.
She then fled the scene and was arrested the next day. The manager’s ankle “was visible [sic] swollen and bruised as a result of being ran [sic] over by [Carter’s] vehicle,” the affidavit states.
Carter pleaded not guilty to charges of second and fourth-degree assault and remains detained pending a July 30 bond hearing.
Attacks over food orders gone wrong have taken place in numerous U.S. states. Customers have assaulted employees for charging extra for additional sauces, over delays in preparing their meals, and for serving food they apparently didn’t feel was up to snuff. In Green Bay, Wisconsin, a Little Caesars worker was attacked as he was leaving for the night by two people who had ordered a pizza but showed up after the store had already closed.
At times, workers have turned the tables, attacking customers who made a fuss over the wait, and going after others who asked too many questions.