People Arrested In Restaurants For Bizarre Reasons
For most of us, a visit to a restaurant is a chance to treat ourselves to good food and good company in a great atmosphere. Spare a thought, then, for these patrons trying to have a nice night out, only to have their nights ruined by the strange behavior of others, leading to the police being called in and a front row seat to a strange arrest while they try to enjoy their meal.
These restaurant-goers have become everything from witnesses to crazy crimes to the accidental eaters of some seriously disturbing things. Read the stories of some of the most strange criminal cases to take place at restaurants below (probably not after you've just eaten) and count your blessings if your recent restaurant trips haven't included situations like these. . .
Calling 911 about a restaurant's small clams
Eating bad seafood has given many of us plenty of reasons to complain, but our complaints were probably more about the gastro-related aftereffects than the size of our servings. This was not the case for one man in Stuart, Florida, who was arrested for misusing 911 by calling to complain about the size of the clams he had ordered.
Despite being warned by his waiter that the clams were small, and being offered a free second order of them, he was so offended by the small-fry seafood that he refused to pay, and called the police three times before being arrested himself. Though he was not taken to jail, hopefully he learned a lesson about not being so selfish about shellfish.
Charged over Chinese food
Also charged for misuse of 911 was a woman in Alliance, Ohio, who complained to the emergency service in July 2015 that the Chinese food she just picked up from her local restaurant "was not up to par for her liking," according to the Associated Press.
When the police determined that her sub-standard sweet & sour chicken was not a life-threatening emergency, the woman was arrested under the misdemeanor charge of misusing 911.
Driving a car through a window... then ordering breakfast
We all aren't ourselves first thing in the morning, but the majority of us manage to not crash into the window of a diner before we've had our morning coffee.
Unfortunately, one Port Orange, Florida, resident can't say the same. In 2010, a 91-year-old man drove his car into the window of a local eatery called Biscuits 'N' Gravy & More. This experience would shake up even the best of us, and nothing will ease your nerves like a hearty breakfast. At least, that's what this nonagenarian thought, as he exited his car and ordered something to eat at the restaurant whose storefront he had just demolished.
After dining on two eggs over light, grits, bacon, coffee and rye toast, which the man described as "very good," he received a citation for careless driving.
For popping pimples
Diners in a Cape Coral, Florida, fast food restaurant got an unpalatable performance in August 2011. For 10 minutes, a man one blog called the "McDonald's Pimple Popper" stood by the entrance of the food franchise and popped zits on his back.
After receiving complaints from the deeply disgusted diners, the police arrived. Though the Pimple Popper was not charged for that gross act, he was eventually charged with driving without a licence, resisting arrest, giving a false ID, and possession of drug paraphernalia. He was later jailed for two more counts of the former crimes and currently resides in Lee County Jail.
Ordering 200 hash browns
Some of us are no strangers to the post-bender breakfast where the only thing that can see you through is a few dozen chicken nuggets. However, 200 is probably too many for even the strongest stomach, even if your blood alcohol reading was five times the legal limit.
This was the case for one man in Sydney, Australia, who was apprehended by authorities with a blood alcohol level of 0.175. The man had been harassing staff at a McDonald's after ordering 200 chicken nuggets. When told he couldn't order them until 5 a.m., the man, who amazingly was actually a vegan, then ordered 200 hash browns, threatening to "f*** up" anyone who didn't give him a refund for 200 fries and Big Macs he hadn't ordered.
Pulling a gun when she was shorted chicken nuggets
As the previous story shows, people really love their chicken nuggets. In fact, one woman in South Hill, Washington, loved the lumps of reconstituted poultry so much that she pulled a gun on the drive-through attendant who served her one less than she was expecting.
After complaining her drink was late and that there was something in it, she started getting irate. Then, discovering she was one nugget short, she threw her drink through the window, and started banging on it when staff closed it. Before anyone knew what was happening, she had pulled out a handgun.
Later, police had to tackle her when she tried to hide from them, and was later jailed.
Throwing a chihuahua at a window
We all from time to time have felt frustrated with how we've been treated in a restaurant or coffee shop. Thankfully, people usually don't express that anger by throwing small dogs at the windows of the premises.
Sadly, one man in Houston, Texas, did just that. Three months after being banned from a branch of Starbucks, the man retaliated while drunk by smashing his bottle on the ground before picking up a chihuahua and throwing it at the store.
While it ended up a relatively happy story for the dog, who after recovering from head injuries, bleeding from the ears and a broken leg, was the recipient of a viral fundraising campaign by a local animal shelter, the same can't be said of the man, who was jailed for animal cruelty.
Pretending to be a zombie
As all Resident Evil fans know, every zombie's favorite food is a nice steaming hot brain. However, one group of the walking dead showed a preference for Thai seafood.
At least, that's what three playacting Russian pickpockets wanted the patrons of a restaurant in Pattaya, Thailand to think. They entered the Surf Kitchen Restaurant separately, then one of them pretended to turn into a zombie, biting the other two to "transform" them. Then, when diners fled in terror, they started to help themselves to their valuables. Or at least, they would have, if staff hadn't started beating them with chairs, as amazing CCTV footage showed them doing.
Assaulting a customer with a coffee pot
In another Waffle House, this time in Beaufort, South Carolina, another attack made the headlines in 2012 when a waitresses struck a complaining patron with a coffee pot.
After waiting for nearly half an hour to be served around 3 a.m. one Saturday, a customer began complaining loudly at his waitress. Whatever they said must have rubbed the server the wrong way, as she eventually hit him on the head with the coffee dispenser. Although the incident required no medical attention, it did lead to a charge of misdemeanor assault and battery, with an additional charge from possession of marijuana when police found some in her apron.
Trying to rob a restaurant with a pitchfork
Though most people associate pitchforks with working with hay or warding off Frankenstein's monster, one man in Norcross, Georgia, took one look at the farming tool and thought about robbing his local Waffle House with it.
He was unable to open the cash register after he entered, dressed in a ski mask and coveralls and brandishing the pitchfork, so he took the whole register. Great plan, right? Wrong. The heavy machine needed two hands to carry, meaning he had to drop his fork to make off with it. Two employees then used it to attack him, smashing his rear truck window and possibly giving him head injuries.
The police then chased the man, but only caught him later in the month after he had also committed a cold-blooded murder that landed him life without parole in prison.
For 'Breaking Bad' in a Taco Bell
Two residents of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, took their fandom of Breaking Bad to the extreme when they turned a utility room of their local Taco Bell into a meth lab.
Much like Walter White, however, justice finally met up with them, with their "one who knocks" being the Iowa police, who found the two men acting suspiciously in front of the Mexican fast food restaurant in the early morning. When police moved into the restaurant, they found pieces of the pair's makeshift meth lab, leading to charges of conspiracy to manufacture methamphetamine for the pair and a possession charge for one of them. One also lost his job at the restaurant. Management promised Gordita fans everywhere the Taco Bell would be thoroughly sanitized before reopening.
Putting glass in food to get free meals
We all love a freebie, but few of us would ever go as far as one resident of Delray Beach, Florida (no, we don't know why Florida has more bizarre arrests in this list than any other state either).
Across 10 days in September 2017, the Floridian had visited 10 different restaurants and slipped glass into her food in order to try to con these eateries into offering her free food for what they thought was their own mistake. If that wasn't twisted enough, the woman would also cut her mouth with the glass to really sell it.
The woman eventually turned herself in, and police arrested the glassy gourmet on a charge of scheme to defraud after she showed them the shards of glass she used in her purse.
For spitting in a drink
Sadly, spitting in a drink in a restaurant isn't that bizarre of a thing to do, with many fast food workers confessing that they have in the past let out their frustrations via spitting in someone's soda. What is stranger, however, are the lengths one man went to when he suspected a spitting.
When a couple complained about their meal at a Chili's in Clay, New York, a waiter got his revenge by leaving a saliva surprise in their to-go drinks. When the lid came off in the car, they discovered the floating spit and went in to complain. When the server denied any wrongdoing, the couple called the cops and sent the cup off to be DNA tested, leading to a $125 dollar fine and a year of probation for the spitter.
Later, when the couple found that the employee was able to keep his job, they filed a lawsuit against the waiter, that Chili's branch and the brand's parent company. A settlement was reached two years later for an undisclosed amount.
Punished for pushing Nicky Hilton
Step back in time by a decade to remember Nicky "Sister of Paris" Hilton, a kind of pre-Kardashian figure. Though most of Hilton's exploits have been lost to the era of MySpace, a weird restaurant-related story remains from February 2009. In that month, Hilton made a citizen's arrest in a Hollywood branch of IHOP after a man shoved her.
Leaving the branch of the International House of Pancakes at 5 a.m., the so-called 'celebutante' was pushed from behind, leading to her restraining the perpetrator until deputies arrived.
Smearing bodily fluids on a burger
Patrons of one restaurant in Columbus, Mississippi had much reason to be alarmed when it was revealed that one worker was allegedly putting menstrual blood onto the meat.
After a co-worker saw the server lick and smear blood onto food in Jack's Family Restaurant, she spoke to her mother, who publicized the story in a Facebook post (above) that then went viral. This led to the accused woman turning herself in, leading to a charge of "selling unwholesome bread or drink," a charge punishable by up to five years of jail time.
Serving human heads
In a grisly piece of news out of Nigeria, a restaurant was raided after it was discovered that they were selling human flesh, with disturbing delicacies like human heads on the menu.
Though it sounds like a scene from a movie like American Psycho or The Voices (above), this was a real restaurant in Anambra, a state in the south of Nigeria. After a visitor to the restaurant wondered what a strange meat was that was being sold at an unusually high price, a tip-off led to the police entering the restaurant. Inside, they discovered human heads wrapped in cellophane alongside a number of high-powered weapons and two army caps. It's not reported whether they also found fava beans and a nice chianti in this cannibal cafe.