Video appears to show Popeyes employee body slamming woman outside restaurant

COLUMBIA, Tenn. (KABC) -- Another incident of violence erupted at a Popeyes with an employee allegedly body slamming a woman onto the concrete outside a Tennessee restaurant.

Video of the alleged incident has gone viral and is now the subject of a police investigation.
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Witnesses say the attack began after a woman disputed a charge on her bill at the restaurant in Columbia, Tennessee.

A heated argument ensued between the customer and several employees, prompting workers to tell the customer to leave the restaurant. Employees claim the woman then used the N-word.

"This ain't no place to say the N-word," a customer who was speaking off camera said in the video.

Footage shows the woman walking out of the restaurant, followed closely behind by several employees, including a man who appears to lift the woman off the ground and quickly slam her on the pavement.



The woman's attorney said the employee's actions weren't justified.
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"If she said something that she regrets, it doesn't give a grown man the right to chase her into the parking lot as she is trying to leave the store, and body slam a 55-year-old grandmother down on the concrete," he said.

The customer's attorney also said the woman suffered nine fractures, including six broken ribs and a broken knee.

Police arrested 29-year-old Deriance Hughes, who faces aggravated assault charges.

The attack comes after a series of violent incidents at Popeyes restaurants around the country, including in Maryland where a man fatally stabbed another customer outside of a location in a fight over the recently re-released chicken sandwich.