ABOVE: A fist fight erupts between employees and patrons at an Ohio Chuck E. Cheese – allegedly stemming from a broken photo booth
TORONTO – What started with balloons and cake ended with flying fists on Sunday, when a wild brawl broke out between Chuck E. Cheese employees and several adults attending a child’s birthday party.
The alleged cause of the melee: a broken photo booth machine.
That’s what the employees in Parma, Ohio told police and media after security cameras captured the wild dust-up, which left multiple employees of the family restaurant and party chain injured.
Parma Police Sgt. Kevin Riley said the fight began at around 7:12 p.m. Sunday, when a woman who was part of the birthday party complained to a manager that a photo booth machine was not working.
The manager told the woman she would have to wait, at which point an adult male confronted the manager, allegedly threatened to kill him, then physically assaulted him.
As other employees intervened to help the manager, other patrons of the birthday party leapt in as well – and a wild brawl erupted, in full view of other customers and children.
“Half of them were cheering him on, the other half were screaming. Their children and grandchildren were running around while we were fighting and they don’t know what’s going on and there’s blood everywhere,” employee Andre Davis told FOX 8 News.
Police believe at least five men participated in the brawl with the employees, while other individuals apparently incited them to violence and encouraged them to continue the fight.
19 Action News in Cleveland, Ohio reported that one employee, a teenage girl, pulled out her phone and attempted to dial 9-1-1 before being struck in the face and rendered unconscious.
“She got slammed into the corner and I was just there taking the beating,” Davis said. “It was just the first instinct I had.”
All of the men involved in the brawl fled before police arrived, and have not been identified at this time.
“We are anxious to bring these individuals to justice and are actively working with Parma police to provide information that will lead to their arrest,” a Chuck E. Cheese spokeswoman said in a statement Monday.
“We are deeply saddened that individuals would choose to behave in this manner in front of children and families.”
Anyone with information on the possible identities of the attackers is asked to call the Parma Police Department Crime Tip Line at 440-887-7340.
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