MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A man was caught on video taking swings at a police officer in the drive-through line at a Collierville Chick-fil-A before he was tackled early Thursday.
A witness told WREG police tried to detain the man inside the Chick-fil-A on Poplar Avenue. Moments later, the man was filmed assaulting the officer outside the restaurant.
Alexis Hernandez was waiting in the line for a chicken biscuit when she caught the fiery attack on camera.
“I was shocked because I don’t really see anything like this in Collierville,” she said.
Kyle James jumped in to help despite his broken arm.
“It hits close to home. My father-in-law is a police officer and I just think that police officer has family and stuff like that. If it was a normal person I’d step in too,” he said.
A Chick-fil-A employee was seen detaining the man before officers arrested him.
Collierville Police said officers were investigating a suspicious person complaint when a man, who was later determined to be “in a mental crisis,” assaulted an officer.
The person was detained without injury and taken to a local mental health facility for evaluation, police said. The officer was treated for minor injuries and will make a full recovery.
“It’s sad. Mental awareness needs to be something that is not taken lightly, especially stuff like that and there needs to be training on how to handle those and I think it was handled fairly well until he got violent,” James said.
“We appreciate the citizens who offered assistance during this call for service. Anyone with video of the incident is requested to contact CPD Dispatch at 901-853-3207,” police said on Facebook.
