PLANO, Texas — The manager of a Hooters in Plano wants those who brutally attacked him last week at his restaurant charged and brought to justice.
Video of the attack and the overall incident has gone viral -- catching like wildfire over the weekend after hitting social media.
The manager, 27-year-old Waldo Montano, suffered injuries to his head and walked away with a fractured arm -- and it's all because he escorted some kids out of the restaurant for selling chocolate bars inside without permission.
"It all escalated so quickly--it was out of my control," Montano said. "I didn't think kicking these kids out would end up with me getting hit in the head with a steel bar or getting beaten up."
Investigators with the Plano Police Department told WFAA Montano escorted at least four juveniles out of the restaurant for trying to sell the candy without permission and that, while being escorted away, they began throwing things around as they left.
Montano said the kids have been in the restaurant before bothering customers.
"They've come in several times since I've been working there for over a year," Montano said. "Solicitation is not allowed -- I was pushing them out, and they started wrecking the place up."
Once the kids were outside the restaurant -- Montano and Plano PD told WFAA at least three adults began to argue with him and a customer who was trying to intervene.
Investigators said the adults then attacked Montano with a hard object.
Montano told WFAA he was hit with a steel pipe twice -- once in the head and then in the arm.
"I get hit with a pipe -- and I'm disoriented. I don't know what to do," Montano said.
At this point -- a waitress starts filming the altercation. In the video, you see Montano being punched and kicked through the door, and you also see the customer struggling with the group.
Montano can be seen falling into the corner of the entryway, where the assault continues.
"I saw so many people coming at me, so I just covered my head as best as I could," Montano said. "I felt fear -- like genuine fear. I didn't know what to do. I was in the corner until I realized I had to get out of there."
In the video, while on the other side of the doors, the group has some words with the servers and Montano through the glass.
Then, one of the adults is seen picking up a cigarette disposal bin and hurling it into one of the windows.
It's all seen on video. The waitress behind the camera also spoke to WFAA on Tuesday and asked not to be named.
"I was just in so much shock," the waitress said. "I was trembling, like really bad -- then I had to see if I was cut."
Another waitress had to be taken to the ER because her cuts from the glass were so bad.
She's expected to be ok, along with the customer who tried to intervene. He was taken to the hospital as well.
Another waitress there that day also spoke to WFAA on the condition of anonymity, saying the incident still weighs on people working in the restaurant.
"We're just constantly looking over our shoulders, just worrying," she said. "Is this going to happen again? Why did this happen to us? At our restaurant?"
Plano police said the group left the restaurant before officers arrived but that investigators are working on reviewing videos and identifying individuals involved.
Montano, who has been a manager with Hooters for over a year, told WFAA he still wants to work at the restaurant.
But he also wants people to know that restaurant staff or anyone working in the service industry, for that matter, shouldn't be treated like this for any reason.
"We're all human -- we have feelings," Montano said. "We're all going through our own battles in life, so it gives nobody the right to come in and treat us like trash. I was just doing my job."
WFAA reached out to Hooters but they provided no comment.
