WEST TOLEDO -- A raucous brawl ruined Mother's Day celebrations for several families at a west Toledo restaurant. The fists started flying just after 3:00pm Sunday in a Golden Corral restaurant at the corner of Alexis and Lewis. When it was all over, police had arrested five people, and sent an elderly woman to the hospital.
Golden Corral employees tell News 11 it all started when an elderly woman told the family at the table next to hers that their children were "acting like animals." After that remark, the fists and feet started flying.
Golden Corral cook Bernard Benton had just clocked in to start work when the fighting began. He says he saw a large man hitting the elderly woman, so he dialed 911. "My other buddy over at the salad area he went running and covered her so she wouldn't get stepped," said Benton. "Man, they were stomping on her! She's 70-years-old... Today is her day. She's somebody's granny, auntie or something."
Police and paramedics rushed to the scene. Officers arrested five people, charging them with misdemeanors. The elderly woman was taken to the hospital for treatment. The restaurant closed on one of its busiest days of the year while investigators sorted out the mess.
Laura Walker came to the Golden Corral Sunday afternoon to enjoy a Mother's Day meal with her son, not to be one of the witnesses to a violent brawl. "I grabbed my son and I said, 'Let's get out of here,' because I didn't know whether they had a knife or gun or what they had," said Walker. Afterwards, she had a good attitude about it. "I told my son, 'Well, we were at the theatre,'" Walker said.
Police allowed the restaurant to reopen later in the evening. Back in the kitchen, Bernard wasn't so sure what got the customers so angry. "We ran out of corn bread too," Benton said. "I don't know."
