Burger King assault survivors
Donation protected
Hi, my name is Cecilia, and I am fundraising for the victims of the assault that took place on 9-04-2022 at burger king in Wyoming, Michigan. My 17-year-old niece is one of the victims who was hospitalized. We are asking the community to help with donations to help them deal with this traumatic event.
We want to raise funds to help cover the costs of things that may not be covered by workers compensation, or for when funds are needed upfront before payments can be approved and distributed. For example, the all-liquid diet Nylah will need to be on for at least the next 6 weeks. The girls were all talking, and after recovering they said it would be nice to go out with Nylah and Isabela to have a small celebration for "the girls who lived." (Forgive the Harry Potter Pun, but Isabela's scar is lightning bolt shaped, and we are trying to make light where we can) We want to be able to help Nylah's Mother Carissa, with some of the upfront costs she will be facing and treat this group of girls to a lovely day out with whatever is left over. We will happily provide photos and receipts when the funds are collected and distributed. So the intent is 40% Nylah, 40% Isabela,20% to be used for all of them to go out and celebrate together with lunch and a mani+pedi.
The altercation began in the drive-through, where the guest/offender was upset over drops of soda on the side of his to-go cup. He told one of the workers running the window to "clean this fucking shit" , regarding the drops of soda on the side of his to-go cup. My niece, one of the shift managers, was asked by her 15-year-old co-worker to please intervene and handle an unruly customer who was dissatisfied with the service he received. After speaking to her co-worker, my niece wiped the guests to-go cup down and politely handed it back to him, where he then slapped it back towards her. As a result, the to-go cup splashes its contents all over my niece, the to-go window, the inside counters, and the floor of the to-go area. The guest/offender then drove away from the to-go window, made a u-turn in the front of the store, parked his car, and returned to the store to further confront its employees.
During the confrontation, which is now occurring inside the building, this grown adult decided to jump across the counter and grab a stack of to-go cups on his own after being told he wouldn't get another one after assaulting the manager at the to-go window earlier. He escalated the situation further by filling the to-go cups he stole at the self-fill station in the lobby. He then emptied them multiple times throughout the lobby and entrance/exit and at the employees while criticizing them for their place of employment.
Maybe it wasn't the best choice, but in the heat of the moment and in fear for their lives, the girls armed themselves with cups of ice and cold drinks and sometime during the altercation, while he was trashing their lobby and dousing them with soda they threw the cups of cold ice and drinks at him while desperately screaming for him to leave their building.
After telling the man to leave several times and him heading towards the exit, Isabela grabbed the lobby keys that would be needed to lock both sets of doors while shouting that he needed to continue leaving the building. Izzy says her memory is a little fuzzy but that she thought the man had stopped walking; he turned around, grabbed her by the neck and then leg, lifted her into the air, followed by body slamming her into the floor, where he then proceeded to kick and hit her in the head/chest/neck/back while she was knocked out, unconscious on the ground.
The first to reach my niece was a brave young girl named Nylah, who followed right after Izzy in case her help was needed; after Isabela was assaulted right before her eyes, Nylah tried to separate him from her by pulling her away. Only for him to turn his anger on her, resulting in severe injuries leading to her losing consciousness.
Shortly After Nylah followed Isabela out, three other employees followed to help them. Including the young girl who was initially dealing with this unruly guest at the drive-through window and Laura, the Assistant Store Manager, who eventually pulled the man from the girls and got him out of the store and returned safely inside with her injured minor co-workers. Unfortunately, after this, the man's partner shouted at him to get in the vehicle, and he did. Then they drove off and could not be apprehended by the police.
One of the young girls who came to my niece's defense has had her jaw broken in two places and had multiple teeth knocked out and chipped/broken. She has had to stay overnight and endure emergency surgery to help fix her injuries and is expected to take a minimum of 6 weeks to recover. Isabela had to stay in the hospital until late in the evening after receiving treatment which included multiple X-rays, CT scans, and 11 stitches on her forehead to close a massive gash. She also has bruising on her neck and upper thigh, where she was grabbed when she was picked up and choke-slammed. Thankfully, her other co-workers' injuries were minor and did not require hospitalization.
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I hope our community can come together and show them all support while they try their best to physically, mentally, and emotionally recover from this horrific event. Indeed this group of young girls and their Assitant Manager are all heroes. If it was not for their intervention, I genuinely do not believe my niece would have survived this attack. Although it breaks my heart that another child was severely injured and others traumatized, my family and I are incredibly grateful they were there to help. We will never forget the sheer kindness and selflessness they displayed in helping Isabela. We plan to let Nylah rest for the remainder of today as she is recovering from surgery, but the girls have plans to visit tomorrow. With her and everyone else's permission, we will give updates accordingly.
Thank everyone for listening and helping us get this story passed around. We all have complete confidence that these girls will get justice for what was done to them and that the security footage from Burger King will align with their statements to the police and their employer.
Links to news articles:
https://www.wzzm13.com/article/news/crime/mother-of-teen-assaulted-at-fast-food-restaurant-hopes-suspect-is-caught/69-31a14220-c899-47fd-b939-9f6685d2a678
https://www.thv11.com/article/news/crime/mother-of-teen-assaulted-at-fast-food-restaurant-hopes-suspect-is-caught/69-31a14220-c899-47fd-b939-9f6685d2a678
Organizer
Cecilia Harrison
Organizer
Grand Rapids, MI
