‘They have your food’: Wild Whataburger brawl over a food mix-up leaves 7 arrested and a man punched into the fetal position

A completely wild, shocking brawl at a Whataburger in San Antonio, Texas, ended with seven people being arrested after a simple food order mix-up escalated into a violent, multi-person fight. The San Antonio Police Department (SAPD) confirmed they were called to the location at 14646 Blanco Road around 3 AM on Sunday, October 5, in response to an assault in progress, all because two parties started arguing over a mix-up of orders.

The fight, which has since gone viral in a video captured by a witness named Rebecca Noel, started when a group of people apparently got part of another table’s order. This is where the situation went from a minor mistake to a full-blown emergency. Noel, whose son was one of the victims, stated on Facebook that instead of the staff simply fixing their error, they allegedly made the situation infinitely worse.

According to her post, “Instead of the staff acknowledging their error, they reportedly told the other customers, ‘They have your food,’” which immediately pointed the finger at her son’s table. Moments later, the confrontation kicked off, according to Fox.

Fast food employees caused a big mess for lack of accountability

As Noel described the horrifying escalation, she stated, “Moments later, those individuals confronted my son and his friends, and within seconds, the situation escalated far beyond a simple misunderstanding — to a violent assault.” You’d think the initial verbal spat would be the end of it, but unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. The video showed the dining area quickly devolve into pure chaos with fists flying everywhere.

The clip shows the sheer brutality of the attack. At one point, a woman is seen punching another woman on a counter, which brings in a whole pile of men to join the fray. The footage is difficult to watch as one man in a gray shirt is thrown to the ground and then brutally punched and kicked by six other men until he’s forced to curl up completely defenseless in the fetal position.

On the other hand, there were some bystanders who, to be fair, tried to stop the madness. In the video, a female bystander is heard yelling what we were all probably thinking, demanding, “Stop. What the f* is wrong with y’all?”** before calling the police, who eventually arrived to put a stop to the violent free-for-all. We’ve seen fast food workers fight, but not customers over a replaceable order.

The SAPD reported that four people were considered victims in the incident—two 20-year-olds and two 18-year-olds. While police didn’t report any major injuries at the scene, which is wild considering the footage, an attorney representing one of the families later confirmed that a victim did go to the hospital to have his injuries checked out. This whole situation is just awful, especially for the people who were just there trying to get some food and suddenly found themselves in a violent assault.

The consequences for the group responsible were swift, with seven individuals arrested and charged with assault causing bodily injury: Andres Garcia Cardenas (21), Tyrone Tolliver (21), Miguel Torres (57), Meili Torres (21), Andrew Lopez (21), Deontae Tolliver (23), and Veronica Valdez (53). On the plus side, this may inspire better food fight scenes in television.

Even Whataburger itself had to get involved, releasing a statement that said, “At Whataburger, the safety of our Guests and employees is our top priority. We are cooperating fully with the authorities.” In fact, one of the men involved in the brawl, the one in the orange shirt, was actually an off-duty employee and has since been fired.