Video appears to show Popeyes employee body slamming woman outside restaurant

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Saturday, November 9, 2019
Video appears to show Popeyes employee body slamming woman
Another incident of violence erupted at a Popeyes with an employee allegedly body slamming a woman onto the concrete outside a Tennessee 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.

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.

"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.