A video has surfaced of a McDonald's worker punching an MSU student — the force of the blow knocking him to the ground — after an altercation the student had with employees at the McDonald's on Grand River Avenue.
Student assaulted at McDonalds on Thursday
The incident happened around 3 a.m. Thursday and the student suffered non-life threatening injuries, East Lansing police Lt. Steve Gonzalez said.
Advertising freshman and former State News intern Kevin Lange, who recorded the punch, said shortly after the student came "stumbling" into the fast food restaurant he spit on the counter, for reasons unknown to Lange.
The move prompted a remark from the worker at the counter, who is not pictured in the video, that angered the student and resulted in him throwing a "Caution: Wet Floor" sign at the register, Lange said.
Workers then called a large employee who was working the grill in the back to escort the student out, he said. The worker, who is wearing an all-black uniform in the video, was followed from the back by another employee, the man seen in blue who later punched the student.
The worker in black allegedly shoved the student, causing him to fall in the doorway and Lange to start videotaping the matter, he said. After the student picked himself up, the worker in blue is seen standing between the student and the other worker. He was then pushed back by the student, Lange said.
Lange described the student's expression at this point as looking "startled" and "ready to pick a fight."
As the student eyed and approached the employee in black, the worker in blue punched the student, dropping him to the ground.
Lange said he and his friends rushed over to the student, who was lying on the floor with a "big gash" on his forehead and a pool of blood around his head.
The student was conscious though, he said, and they tended to him for 10 to 15 minutes, waiting for the ambulance to arrive.
"He was just how he was before he got hit — in rough condition," Lange said.
Lange said the worker in blue left soon after punching the student and the employee in black went back to work.
East Lansing police could not offer further comment on the incident, as it is under investigation, Gonzalez said. Because no arrests were made on scene and a criminal complaint was filed by the student, the detective bureau is working the case.
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"At this point in time they're still tying up loose ends on it, then they'll refer it to the prosecutor's office for review," he said.
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