HOUSTON – A McDonald’s employee said she’s recovering after she was mistaken by a K-9 as the bad guy.
Houston Police responded to a robbery at the McDonald’s located on 10323 East Freeway Tuesday just after midnight.
Shenell Davis said she was working at the time. Davis said she’s a cook and was washing dishes when she heard one of her co-workers yell.
“A guy who came in with a gun, he was robbing a young lady at the window, a cashier. I was in the back washing dishes, then when I heard her holler, I went to go hide,” Davis explained. “She said, ‘I don’t have any money, leave me alone.' She starts screaming and hollering. He (the suspect robber) said, ‘Go to the safe, go to the safe.'”
Davis said she hid and waited for the police to arrive.
“When the police came with the K-9, I thought I was safe,” Davis said.
But what happened next surprised her.
“I said I wasn’t going to come out until the police came and then when the police came I first came out and said, ‘I work here, I work here’ and a dog turned around, I thought he was going to come back to the police officer, but he came back to me and then he started biting my leg and I said, ‘I work here, I work here’" Davis said. “He was holding on to my leg, just pulling it. Then I tried to hit him in the head to stop him, then he bit my finger. Then he went right back for my leg and he started grabbing it."
Davis continued, “And the police officer, even though I was hollering I was an employee, this is exactly what he said, ‘Hold up I’m fixing to shoot, hold up, wait!' I said, ‘No, I’m an employee, I’m an employee.'"
The Houston Police Department said it’s Tactical Operations oversees the K-9 Units and they rely on information from individuals or businesses to give them information before they send the K-9 to the scene.
HPD said in this case, a McDonald’s manager told Tactical Operations that all employees were out of the restaurant and they believed everyone was accounted for. HPD said managers missed this employee.
The police department said Tactical Operations will put together an “after-action” report and take a look at everyone’s actions to see how to prevent incidents like this in the future.
Paramedics treated Davis a the scene and she said her daughter took her to the hospital later. She received some shots and said she’s in a lot of pain.
“They will be hearing from my attorney because that wasn’t right,” Davis said.