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Seven workers fired after brawl at Popeyes caught on video

Posted at 9:31 PM, Nov 16, 2019
and last updated 2019-11-16 21:31:46-05

MILWAUKEE (WITI) – Multiple employees at a Milwaukee Popeyes restaurant lost their jobs after a wild brawl was caught on camera Wednesday, WITI reports.

Cellphone video from inside the fast food eatery shows the fight break out while customers were still inside. The violent encounter happened at the Popeyes near 76th and Good Hope Road around 9:30 p.m.

Richard Fourté

Richard Fourté told WITI he wanted to avoid the drive-thru line that evening, so he went inside.

"I said to myself, I said, 'Wow, there's a lot of people working here,'" Fourté said.

Fourté said he could feel the tension mounting and grabbed his cellphone to start recording. Calm quickly turned 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."

Moments later, a violent fight broke out near him 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.