Dallas Taco Bell manager dumped boiling hot water on black customers according to $1m filed lawsuit. Brittany Davis & C.T were trying to correct an order when they were attacked in a locked room.
A Dallas couple are seeking $1m in damages after a recent trip to a local Taco Bell outlet led to them being scalded with hot water by an employee after the pair complained about an alleged incorrect order last month, according to court files.
The lawsuit filed Wednesday seeks damages in excess of $1 million after Brittany Davis and a minor girl identified as C.T. — both identified as black — saw their lives ‘forever changed’ during a June 17 stop at the fast food outlet. The pair had asked for their $31 order to be corrected before the alleged attack, according to the filing.
‘Instead of simply correcting the order, a Taco Bell employee threatened to fight C.T., a minor, and the Taco Bell store manager violently and without warning poured a bucket of boiling water over C.T.’s and Brittany’s heads, shoulder, breasts and legs, causing excruciating second- and third-degree burns on their bodies,’ the lawsuit claims according to the nypost.
The pair were left ‘burning from the inside out’ as a result of the scalding water that soaked their clothes against their bodies, the lawsuit claims.
‘The store they believed would be a place of service and safety quickly turned into a place of horrors,’ according to the 19-page Dallas County lawsuit.
#TacoBell facing lawsuit after Dallas woman accused employee of pouring boiling water on her, child when they tried to get their drive-through order corrected https://t.co/1IM459Jnj3 @catherinemarfin
— Androvett Legal News (@AndrovettLegal) July 19, 2022
Dallas Taco Bell lawsuit: Complaining customers brought into locked room
The pair had gone through a drive-thru three different times to get their proper order, but Taco Bell workers refused to correct it. An employee then let them into the locked dining room and secured the door shut behind them, according to the lawsuit.
Davis and the girl then discussed their order with Taco Bell workers for 10 minutes before employees ‘became combative,’ the lawsuit claims. A female manager who wasn’t involved in the conversation then came from behind a counter with a ‘scalding bucket of water’ and doused the pair, according to the filing.
Davis and the girl tried to leave the restaurant, but were unable to as the door was locked. They managed to get outside just as the manager returned with a second bucket of boiling water, the lawsuit alleges.
‘As this family was leaving the parking lot, a Taco Bell employee came outside the front door, laughing, clapping and taunting the family – adding insult to horrific injury,’ the filing states.
Davis started having seizures due to the shock of the attack while on the way to a hospital, where the girl ran naked into an emergency room after stripping off her clothes soaked with scalding water, according to the lawsuit.
Brace yourselves …
Davis, of Dallas, had at least 10 seizures and deep burns to her chest and stomach, while the girl had severe burns to her face, chest, legs, arms and stomach, the lawsuit claims.
‘Taco Bell failed to protect the safety of their customers’
‘When C.T. was released home from the hospital, her mother had to remove all mirrors from the walls, as C.T. could not bear to see her own face,’ the filing reads. ‘The burns to the rest of her body caused her skin to bubble the size of softballs.’
The pair, thought to be related are being represented by civil rights and personal injury attorney Ben Crump of Ben Crump Law and attorney Paul Grinke of McCathern Law the Dallas Morning News reported.
‘Our hearts break for these two victims whose lives are forever changed because of the horrific and damaging actions by the Taco Bell manager and the larger entities that failed to protect the safety of their customers,’ said Grinke and Crump. ‘Not only did Brittany and C.T. suffer physical trauma because of the burns, but they will now live with the psychological trauma that comes with an attack like this. Corporations have a duty to employ quality and stable employees who hold safety as the highest priority.’
The chain’s parent company, Yum! Brands, a local franchisee and two employees not identified by name in the suit did not respond to requests for comment, the Dallas Morning News reported.
A judge on Friday ordered the Taco Bell location to preserve and turn over photos and video footage from the restaurant during the time of the incident according to the Dallas Morning News.
Dallas police responded to the restaurant in the 11800 block of Adams Road after getting reports of an aggravated assault and an assault on June 17, department officials told the outlet.
The victim in the aggravated assault case is the suspect in the assault complaint, police spokeswoman Melinda Gutierrez said, adding that one woman was badly burned while another was scratched during an altercation.
It’s unclear whether any arrests have been made, or what led to employees allegedly attacking the customers.
