A Texas restaurant employee says he lost his job after calling 911 when a snake bit a customer. Eric Estrada, who worked at the Texas taco chain Tacodeli, shared the allegation in a video posted to Instagram. In the video, Estrada said no one had fired him before. He then explained what he claims happened during an incident at the restaurant.
According to Estrada, the incident happened on Friday when a customer needed immediate medical attention. “I called 911 to get him the help that he needed,” he said, “and I got fired because of that,” he alleged.
According to Estrada, management later told him he should have contacted a supervisor instead of emergency services, “even though this person needed help,” he said.
Estrada alleged Tacodeli never trained him how to respond
Estrada also claimed he had never received training on how to respond to a medical emergency in the workplace. “I don’t know what to do. I don’t have any medical training,” he said in his post.
Estrada added, “I just was an employee there; I was never trained on any of this stuff,” he said. “So I did what I thought was the right call, which was to get him help from someone who actually knew what they were doing.”
Estrada described the outcome as disappointing because he believed he acted in the customer’s best interest. “I thought I did the right thing.”
Tacodeli disputed Estrada’s account in a statement provided to the Houston Chronicle’s Chron, alleging Estrada’s claims “do not accurately represent the circumstances involved,” the company said. “Tacodeli does not discuss confidential personnel matters publicly, but employment decisions are made only after careful review and in accordance with our established policies. Our Guests’ and Employees’ safety are always at the forefront of our decisions.”
The company did not publicly explain what circumstances it believes Estrada inaccurately described. Tacodeli operates multiple locations across Texas, including restaurants in the Austin, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio areas.
Commenters on Estrada’s post agreed that he did the right thing. One noted, “If I had gotten [bitten] by a snake, I would HOPE someone would help me get to the hospital as fast as possible. In no way would I want someone to call their manager first. You 100% did the right thing by acting fast.”
As of publication, no additional public information has clarified the events surrounding Estrada’s termination beyond his Instagram post and Tacodeli’s statement to Chron.
Chron also reported that Estrada said he was consulting an attorney but declined to provide additional comment. Neither Estrada nor Tacodeli nor Chron revealed the species of snake involved in the incident. The restaurant guest’s current condition is unclear.
Published: Jul 10, 2026 01:02 pm