McDonald’s workers call cops when drive-thru customer mouths ‘help me’ because of abusive man in car

McDonald’s employees call cops after desperate customer in drive-thru mouths ‘help me’ because the man she was traveling with threatened her and a firearm was found in their car

  • Fast-thinking McDonald’s employees called authorities when a desperate woman mouthed ‘help me’ in the drive-thru of a California restaurant
  • The woman signaled to the workers at the fast-food establishment in Lodi that she needed help after a man she was traveling with had threatened her Tuesday
  • San Joaquin County Sheriff’s deputies said they arrived on the scene and arrested Eduardo Valenzuela, a 35-year-old convicted felon
  • The deputies charged Valenzuela after they said they found a stolen firearm in the trunk of the vehicle he was traveling with the woman
  • Valenzuela faces four felony charges, including making criminal threats, having stolen property and possession of a firearm as a prohibited person
  • He was detained at the San Joaquin County Jail lieu of $360,000 bail and the McDonald’s workers were praised as heroes

Fast-thinking McDonald’s employees called authorities when a desperate customer mouthed ‘help me’ in the drive-thru of a California restaurant, leading to the arrest of a man she was traveling.

San Joaquin County Sheriff’s deputies said they arrived at the fast-food establishment in Lodi Tuesday and arrested Eduardo Valenzuela, 35, after a firearm was found in the trunk of the vehicle.

He was detained at the San Joaquin County Jail in lieu of $360,000 bail, and the McDonald’s workers were praised as heroes.

Eduardo Valenzuela, 35, was arrested Tuesday after a woman he allegedly threatened mouthed the words ‘help me’, at a drive-thu at a McDonald’s in Lodi, California

San Joaquin County Sheriff’s deputies said they arrived at the fast-food establishment and arrested Valenzuela after finding a firearm in the trunk of the vehicle he was traveling with the woman who had signaled she needed help

Workers at the McDonald's were praised as heroes for helping to apprehend Valenzuela, who faces four new felony charges, including making criminal threats, having stolen property and possession of a firearm as a prohibited person

Workers at the McDonald’s were praised as heroes for helping to apprehend Valenzuela, who faces four new felony charges, including making criminal threats, having stolen property and possession of a firearm as a prohibited person

The woman had first signaled she was in trouble when she was actually in the restaurant earlier during that same visit.

She had told to an employee to call 911, gave up her license plate number and asked to be hidden. 

However, after going to the bathroom, the man, who she accused of being abusive to her and threatening her on their way to visit his family, thwarted her return to the restaurant counter. 

Instead, he made the woman go through the drive-thru of the McDonald’s, where she was able to signal her distress, the sheriff’s office said.

The deputies charged Valenzuela after they said they found a stolen firearm in the trunk of the vehicle he was traveling in with the woman.

Valenzuela, already a convicted felon, faces four new felony charges, including making criminal threats, having stolen property and possession of a firearm as a prohibited person. 

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk