A Panera employee has been deemed a hero after hitting a deranged customer with a pan during a brawl that broke out inside the bakery-cafe chain’s Glendale, Colorado location.
The entire ordeal, which occurred on Tuesday, Sept. 10, was caught on video. The unruly customer appeared to be upset about their phone going missing. They then started throwing several objects off a counter at the employees. Among the items thrown was a smoothie. The customer also used a racial slur.
“Hey, come on, get out of here,” another customer stated. When the suspect demanded their phone, a female declared, “No one has your phone.”
A fellow male customer attempted to intervene as the suspect continued to throw things off the counter. “Hey come on, grow up, stop it, get out of here,”
Eventually, one of the employees stepped in and that was when the scuffle began.
As the first employee and the customer were seen on the ground exchanging blows, the “hero” Panera employee came out from the back of the location with a baking pan. They then proceeded to repeatedly hit the customer with the pan.
“Call the police on this guy,” one of the customers declared in the background of the video.
The Panera bread employee hitting it with the paddle peel spatula thing is giving me life 🤣🤣🤣🤣
— Tory (@BlackBoneTarot) September 11, 2024
I love you Panera never change 🫶🏻
pic.twitter.com/cg9mZjsBQj
The Witness of the Panera Brawl Admitted She Couldn’t Believe What Was Happening
Natalie Wiersma, who managed to record the entire ordeal, spoke to KDVR News about the incident. “They all looked super-confused and said, ‘We don’t have your phone,'” Wiersma said when the unruly customer accused the employees of having their phone.
She also admitted she couldn’t believe what was happening. “I said this isn’t a situation. This isn’t happening,” Wiersma stated. The witness observed the employee who confronted the suspect, who was going after the other customer.
“The next guy then actually kind of saved that guy from getting attacked further and tried his best to hold them down,” Wiersma recalled.
She further spoke about the Panera employee who went after the suspect with the pan. “My personal hero: That, I think, was very effective,” Weirsma said.
After the initial brawl at the Panera location, the suspect fled the premises before police arrived. However, they returned later and caused another disturbance. During the second incident, one person suffered minor injuries.
The Glendale Police Department stated the suspect, identified as Isaac Ross or Kendall Ross, remains at large. The law enforcement officials did not share any more details about the suspect.