A viral video shows a group of middle school students surrounding and repeatedly hitting a man outside a McDonald’s in South Florida, eventually pushing the confrontation into a busy roadway.
The footage from Dania Beach is ugly enough on its own. Several students can be seen crowding the man as punches are thrown, while adults eventually move in to separate him from the group.
What the video does not show is how the confrontation began. The Broward Sheriff’s Office told Local 10 that the man had threatened to fight the children while they were still inside the restaurant.
Deputies said the students followed him outside after he left, and the fight broke out there. The Aug. 21 incident remains under investigation.
Out The Door
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Yanelle Perez, whose children attend nearby Olsen Middle School, was picking them up when she saw the fight unfolding outside the McDonald’s at 1310 S. Federal Highway.
Perez began recording after the confrontation had already moved outside. She told Local 10 that she did not know what had happened inside the restaurant.
From where she was standing, however, Perez said the man appeared badly outnumbered.
“They basically jumped an old man,” she said.
Video shows students surrounding the man as the confrontation moves through the parking area and into the street. Perez estimated that 10 to 15 children were eventually around him and said several adults had to intervene.
Patrick Utter, another witness who helped the man, gave a less one-sided account. He told Local 10 that neither side was innocent and said the man had said something to the students before they followed him outside.
Two Versions
Olsen Middle School Principal Janet Giancarli sent families a message after video of the fight began circulating.
The school’s account said an adult approached the students and initiated a physical confrontation outside the restaurant. Giancarli also told parents that the incident happened off school property and outside the school day.
The message said no one was injured.
Perez initially questioned that description because she had only seen the portion outside, where the man appeared to be trying to get away from a much larger group.
BSO later supplied more of the sequence. Deputies said the man threatened to fight the students inside the McDonald’s before leaving, after which the children followed him outside.
Deputies are still examining what was said and what happened before the violence captured on camera.
The man had already left the McDonald’s by the time deputies arrived. As of Sept. 3, BSO was still waiting to speak with him as part of the open investigation.