By 3 News online staff
A man accused of flying into a rage when staff at Wendy’s got his order wrong has criticised the way police handled the situation.
Auckland man David Ilolahia was charged with threatening behaviour, assaulting police, disorderly behaviour and resisting police after the incident at the Lynfield store.
The 35-year-old told the New Zealand Herald he had placed an order at the drivethrough on Friday morning for a Baconator with no bacon, a fish burger and a Triple Combo.
Ilolahia alleges when he picked up his order from the trainee staff member it was wrong.
“They gave me Big Classic, the Baconator was correct and the fish (burger) was chicken.”
Ilolahia says he quickly lost his temper when he went inside to complain to the manager who he claims blew him off.
"They weren't polite words. I called her a homosexual and the b-word and a f****** a*******. I had to shout at her, I was that angry,” he told the Herald.
Have you ever felt intimidated at a fast food outlet?
Police were called after Ilolahia shouted and pushed over a screen and till on the counter, while staff locked themselves in the office to escape his rampage.
A can of pepper spray emptied into Ilolahia’s eyes had little effect.
“I could still see,” he says, adding that he thinks the police officer was “shocked”.
The scuffle lasted around 10 minutes and spilled out into the Wendy’s carpark.
Ilolahia was batoned across the head twice before other officers helped to restrain and arrest him.
Despite admitting he lost his temper quickly and “stepped a bit wider than I should,” Ilolahia says he is shocked at the reaction of police and doesn’t understand why he was treated “like that”.
“You expect to be treated as a public person.”
He describes the incident as a “communication breakdown kind of thing” that escalated out of control, and maintains he is not an aggressive person.
Ilolahia says police did not give him a chance to comply and the officer who arrested him flew into an “aggressive rage”.
Banned from the Lynfield store, Ilolahia says the incident has not affected his “taste” for Wendy’s.
He is due to appear in Auckland District Court this week.
3 News