Police Officer Throws Out Man From McDonald’s, Restaurant Speaks Out

Video showing the moment a homeless man was made to leave McDonald’s after a customer bought him a meal has sparked widespread outrage, after the footage was viewed millions of times.

The short clip shot by customer Yossi Gallo shows a uniformed police officer standing over an elderly man who has sat down with a meal, and telling him he has to go after accusing him of asking for money.

Mr Gallo, who shared the video on his Facebook page, tells the officer. “He didn’t ask me for money, he didn’t even ask for food, I brought him from outside. You guys suck for giving him a trespass.”

As the homeless man takes a final few bites of food, visibly upset, Mr Gallo added: “I brought him over, as soon as they saw him, ‘Nah, Nah, he’s not getting food.’ I paid for his food, he’s getting food.”

A McDonald’s staff member at the branch in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina in the US tells him to lower voice, but he replies: “This is how I talk, I talk loud.” Then the filmmaker then steps outside and explains to the camera, that he brought the elderly man in from the car park to eat.

“As soon as they saw him they tell him ‘you can’t eat’ and they call the cops for trespassing. The guy did nothing wrong.” He returns to the restaurant, and sees the man, who is dressed in a cap, putting his bag of chips and drink back on the tray and getting up to leave.

Mr Gallo is eventually also asked to leave, and seemingly denied his request to finish his food and told if he wants a refund he will have to go through civil court.

As other customers look on, the officer tells him: “You have to leave right now.

“I am the law. You need to get your stuff and leave. That is all. You want a refund, you have got to go through corporate. I am not corporate.”

At one point Mr Gallo yells out: “I am getting kicked out of here because I gave a homeless man food.”

After both leave the restaurant in Myrtle Beach, Mr Gallo asks the man to come in his car so he can drive elsewhere to buy him something to eat.

The homeless man, replies in a tearful voice: “I didn’t hurt nobody.”

WBTW reached out to the owner of the McDonald’s restaurant for comment on the incident. McDonald’s owner Joel Pellicci provided the following statement:

At my restaurant, the goal is to provide our customers with a positive and welcoming experience each time they visit. Unfortunately, the individual in this video has a history of disruptive behavior and has been asked to leave by management and police on several occasions. His unpredictable behaviors have created significant concerns for the safety and comfort of our employees and customers. Whereas we are compasionate of the individuals situation and admirable of the customers generosity, the restaurant acted to remove an individual that has a long history of disruptive and unacceptable behaviors which have negatively affected customer experiences.

Myrtle Beach Police Department said they had been called to the restaurant by a member of staff about a man asking people for money in their car park.

In a statement, the police said: “Upon arriving at the restaurant, an employee approached the officer and indicated the male was inside the establishment. The employee requested the officer issue a trespassing warning and asked that the person leave the premises.

“The officer advised the male of the request made by the business and issued the warning. A bystander, who was videotaping the incident was also trespassed from the location, at the request of the manager, for what management deemed as disorderly behaviour.

“Both individuals complied with the request of the business and left the premises.”

McDonald’s cooperate office did not immediately reply to request for comment.

Many have left one star reviews on the Facebook page of the McDonald’s where the incident took place, as well as a series of aggressive comments.

Mr Gallo has since asked people to stop posting abusive messages to the police officer in the video, who was “doing her job”

“She did nothing wrong, I don’t have any anger towards her in any way,” he told the news channel.

Health Problems That Cause Homelessness

Certain illnesses and health problems are frequent antecedents of homelessness. The most common of these are the major mental illnesses, especially chronic schizophrenia. As mentally ill people’s disabilities worsen, their ability to cope with their surroundings—or the ability of those around them to cope with their behavior—becomes severely strained. In the absence of appropriate therapeutic interventions and supportive alternative housing arrangements, many wind up on the streets.

Another contemporary example of illness leading to homelessness is AIDS. As the disease progresses and leads to repeated and more serious bouts with opportunistic infections, the individual becomes unable to work and may be unable to afford to continue paying rent.

Other health problems contributing to homelessness include alcoholism and drug dependence, disabling conditions that cause a person to become unemployed, or any major illness that results in massive health care expenses.

One type of health problem in this category—about which the committee heard much during several site visits—is accidental injury, especially jobrelated accidents. Although such programs as Workers’ Compensation were designed to prevent economic devastation as a result of workplace casualties, they often fall far short of what is optimal for many reasons, including lack of knowledge of the program by the employee, low levels of benefits under the program, and lack of benefits for “off the books” work and migrant farm labor.