Rant at Burger King related to charges
A Lyndora man, seen in a viral video that appears to show him slapping an employee at a fast-food restaurant in Butler Township, is headed for court on charges.
Austin W. Addison, 21, on July 30 waived his preliminary hearing on a misdemeanor charge of criminal mischief and summary charges of disorderly conduct and harassment, stemming from the June 26 incident at the Burger King on New Castle Road.
In the viral video viewed by more than 5 million people on Twitter, the defendant is seen at the far end of the front counter, dressed in a black T-shirt and black shorts.
While leaning in toward the employee, a manager, the man identified as Addison can be heard yelling and cursing, while pointing his finger and swinging his arms about in an animated fashion.
The 30-year-old victim, wearing eyeglasses and dressed in a black button-down shirt and blue tie, is calm and quiet throughout the encounter until the end when he advises the defendant, “Sir, you are on camera right now.”
The suspect, as depicted in the viral video footage, slaps the employee on the right cheek with his left hand, knocking the victim's glasses off his face. The loud slap can clearly be heard. Addison, in the video, then quickly exits.
Butler Township police said they were called around 3:50 p.m. that day for the incident.
The video was recorded by Garret Reams, 26, of New Castle, who said he was in line behind Addison to order chicken nuggets. The video is only about 13 seconds long, but Reams said the confrontation lasted about a minute and a half to two minutes. At one point, Reams said he attempted to diffuse the situation, but it didn't work.
“When I realized I wasn't going to do anything for the situation except make it worse, I pulled my phone out,” Reams said.
Reams works retail and he said he recorded the incident to give to police in case a security camera at the store wasn't active during the incident.
Reams said he shared the video online after Addison was arrested because he wanted to show that incidents like this happen to service people.
“I just want people to understand this is the reality of what retail workers deal with,” he said. “It doesn't happen every day; his isn't the first time I've seen someone get slapped in a situation like that.”
The victim told police that the defendant showed up at the restaurant to see his girlfriend, who works there. The girlfriend, police said, confirmed that the defendant was there to see her about a personal matter.
The victim recounted that Addison began to “yell” at him while “flailing his arms back and forth,” according to charging documents.
The suspect allegedly slapped the victim's face and threw a set of car keys at one of the TV screen menu monitors, which caused about $1,040 in damage, documents said.
Police described the victim as having redness to his right cheek from the slap.
Officers said they found Addison and spoke to him about the incident. He “fully admitted to the assault,” documents said, “and damaging Burger King property.”
A version of the video eventually made its way on Twitter. TMZ also posted the video on its tabloid news website.
With the video, TMZ captioned: “This Burger King lounge is anything but chill ... a customer slapped the hell out of an employee to punctuate a rant, and the incident was caught on camera.”
Addison appeared without an attorney for his scheduled preliminary hearing at the office of District Judge Kevin O'Donnell, authorities said. He gave up his right to the hearing and waived the charges to court. His formal arraignment is Sept. 22.
He could not be reached for comment.
