'7 employees were terminated:' Vicious brawl at Milwaukee Popeyes caught on cellphone video
MILWAUKEE -- Outrageous cellphone video from inside a Milwaukee Popeyes restaurant shows a group of employees getting into a vicious brawl. This all went down while customers were inside. The violent encounter happened at the Popeyes near 76th and Good Hope Road around 9:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 13.
Richard Fourté
"It was just out of control," said Richard Fourté, a customer.
Richard Fourté wanted to avoid the drive-thru line -- and went inside.
"I said to myself, I said, 'Wow, there's a lot of people working here,"' Fourté said.
Soon it went from calm to chaos inside the restaurant.
"I heard one of them yell, 'It's a fight," Fourté said. "They ran to the back by the grills, OK. Now, there was a fight back there. I didn't get that one on tape."
Fourté said tensions were just beginning to mount. Feeling the hostility, Fourté grabbed his cellphone and started recording.
Moments later, a violent fight broke out with several employees throwing punches.
Soon, the situation cooled off -- and Fourté left empty-handed.
"Honestly, I wasn't even going to get the chicken sandwich," Fourté said.
When police arrived on scene, they determined no weapons were involved -- and no arrests were made. It is unclear what sparked the altercation.
Statement from Popeye’s franchise owner
“This was an unfortunate, isolated incident which we take very seriously. The dining room was closed immediately after the altercation at 9:30 p.m. As a result of this, 7 employees were terminated from the company, including the manager on duty," said John Brodersen.