Violence under the golden arches

Navasota McDonald's is taking safety measures to ensure staff members and customers are safe from violence following a fight at the restaurant Aug. 31.

A McDonald's manager who wishes to remain anonymous said fights at the restaurant is an ongoing problem with children. The manager said the latest incident began in the bathroom. “They started fighting in the restroom first, so I just went and kicked the kids out from the restroom,” said the manager. “

“But I guess everybody knows the school kids are fighting here because when I came back there was a police officer here,” said the manager. “They don’t respect the police officer here and they started fighting again in the parking lot.”

Navasota Police Chief Mike Mize said around 4 p.m. Aug. 31, officers were dispatched to McDonald's, at the 8700 block of Texas 6 for a report of a physical disturbance. Mize said an officer arrived on scene and attempted to break up a physical fight between two males. The officer requested assistance because a crowd of 40-50 juveniles surrounded the fight.

Several Navasota Police Officers responded to disperse the crowd of individuals ranging in age from 16-19 years old. Mize said several citations for disorderly conduct were issued.

“There were a lot of people outside, so I stayed inside to try to keep my people safe in here,” explained the manager. “They were talking about they have guns and stuff, so I just tried to keep my people safe in here.”

Safety measures The McDonald's manager said they try to keep children from hanging out to prevent problems. They have a policy in place that says children who order food are only allowed to stay for 30 minutes.

“We try to kick out the kids because the policy is just 30 minutes here. If you buy some food you can only stay 30 minutes,” said the manager. “But you feel bad to kick out the kids especially with this weather, but some kids are pretty bad. You can’t handle these kids.”

The manager said a lot of times kids are at McDonald's until 7 or 8 p.m. “And I don’t know why the parents leave the kids here. I feel like McDonald's is not a daycare.”

When violence happens at the restaurant there are often families with children dining there. “I feel bad because there are a couple families here at the same time with a lot of little ones and I guess all the little ones get really scared,” said the manager.

The manager said the dining area will now be closed on game days. Only families, children with their parents and regular customers will be allowed inside.

McDonald's is also altering policies during peak times after school lets outs, from 4 p.m. until approximately 5:10 p.m. During that time only five children will be allowed inside at once to purchase food, and those food orders will be for take-out only.

“I feel bad because right now we need to close the doors and just open for whatever family comes to the door,” said the manager. “We might lose business and maybe have customers complain about why the lobby is closed. But it is for security for the kids and for us.”