UTAH COUNTY, Utah, July 3, 2019 (Gephardt Daily) — A man is facing an assault charge after he allegedly punched a Burger King employee through an Orem drive-thru window.
A probable cause statement from Utah County said Diego Emmanuel Bautista Medina, 41, was arrested Tuesday and is facing the assault charge, a class B misdemeanor; as well as criminal mischief, a third-degree felony; and criminal trespass, a class B misdemeanor.
The arresting officer wrote in the statement: “While on graveyard patrol in Orem I responded to a call where an individual had smashed through the front glass door of the Burger King on the corner of Center Street and State Street. The Burger King was closed for the evening.”
Upon arrival, the officer saw the man, later identified as Medina, being detained by other officers. Medina stated that he only spoke Spanish, and as the Spanish speaking officer on scene, that officer attempted to communicate with him.
“He was very difficult to understand and only made statements about credit card fraud occurring possibly at the incident location,” the statement said. “He also stated that he heard a distressed voice coming from a ‘friend’ of his, calling for help from inside the Burger King. When asked if he was using any drugs Diego stated that he had used ‘crystal’ several days ago. He also admitted that he had not slept in several days.”
The officers interviewed the Burger King employees who were present, and they said that Medina had knocked on the window of the drive-thru while on foot, then began banging on it to get the employees’ attention. One of the Spanish speaking employees tried to communicate with Medina through the drive-thru window, but was grabbed through the window and punched by Medina.
“The employee retreated into the store and shut the drive-thru window,” the statement said. “These employees stated that minutes later they heard a crash of glass from the front of the store. Upon investigating, they found Diego standing in the front lobby holding large rocks in his hands, and the glass of the front lobby doors smashed and broken around the store. Diego began to make aggressive jerking movements towards the employees, as if he was going to throw the rocks at them, or attack them.”
The Spanish speaking employee reported that he could not understand what Medina was saying, apart from broken phrases about credit card fraud. The other employees stated that they felt that Medina was going to harm them.
At this time the first officers arrived on scene and detained the suspect.
Medina was transported to Utah County Jail with his bail set at $6,750. The criminal mischief charge was enhanced to a felony because the repair of the front door glass windows will most likely be at least $3,000, the statement said.
