Ohio restaurant worker clings to car after dine and dash
(NewsNation) — A manager at a Buffalo Wild Wings on Saturday went on a dangerous ride trying to get three teenage girls to pay a $115 tab.
Security video shows a worker holding onto the hood of the car careening down the street. The confrontation happened after the girls had dine and dashed from the store in Willoughby, Ohio.
After the girls left the restaurant, employees tried to stop the teenagers from driving away. They tried to write down the license plate as well, but one of the passengers removed a temporary tag from the back window.
An employee was standing in front of the car when the girls drove forward, while the manager called 911, Buffalo Wild Wings employee Kayla Sherman told NewsNation affiliate WJW FOX 8.
“They just took off forward and I was right there, so I was on top of that car. They tried to say I jumped onto the car, but in reality, I practically was put onto the vehicle,” Sherman said.
The 16-year-old driver tried to throw Sherman and another employee off by driving around the parking lot in circles.
“I just had my fingers underneath the hood there and I clinched on as hard as I could,” Sherman said.
The manager told the 911 dispatcher, “one of my employees just fell off of (the car), my other employee is still on top of it,” and that the worker couldn’t get off because the teens were “driving fast as (expletive),” according to WJW FOX 8.
Then the driver turned onto the road, where they accelerated to an estimated 65 miles per hour. Sherman said the teens were throwing things out of the sunroof to try to knock her off.
“Swerving in and out of traffic, hitting the windshield wipers to try to get me to fall off,laughing and saying ‘We’ll take you on the highway,’” Sherman said. She was able to roll off the car when they turned down a side street.
“I was so thankful and not long after, an officer was right there and I said ‘please, just help me.’ He said ‘what do you need,’ I said ‘I just need to be warm,'” she told WJW FOX 8. “My fingers were black and blue from how cold it was that night.”
When a police officer tried to pull the driver over, the car spun out in the snow. The 16-year-old was arrested for fleeing and eluding, and she and her 17-year-old passengers will also face charges for the dine and dash.
Dining and dashing is an increasing and troubling trend facing restaurants across the country.