A manager of a Wendy's restaurant in Tennessee has been arrested. She told police officers that she tied her neurodivergent co-worker to a grill as part of a TikTok stunt.
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The Wendy's Manager Has Been Fired
As reported by the New York Post, Michiko Burton was charged Thursday in connection with the incident. The 19-year-old could face up to a year in jail. She was also fired from the Murfreesboro Wendy's where she worked.
Because the neurodivergent employee wasn't injured, Burton wasn't initially arrested. However, she did allegedly tie him to a grill and wrap garbage bags around his leg.
A coworker recorded the troubling video, prompting an investigation. According to police, Burton claimed that "the incident was part of a TikTok trend."
"The incident was referred to Adult Protective Services and investigated by detectives with the Special Victims Unit," police said. "The investigation led to warrants being obtained for Burton's arrest."
Burton Has Been Charged
Burton has been charged with simple assault and false imprisonment. The misdemeanor offense can carry a sentence of up to a year in jail.
The area manager for the Wendy's where Burton once worked called her behavior "unacceptable."
"That is why Michi is not here anymore," they said. "Michi is no longer a manager for us."
Nicholus Murphy, who recorded the video, doesn't believe Burton's motive for recording the video.
"If there was a TikTok trend, then where's the TikTok?" he asked.
He added that he felt a duty to defend his co-worker.
"They deserve justice," he said. "He deserves a person here having his back. Doing the right thing is always the right thing to do."
This incident comes after a report from a school in Arkansas in May. Mary Tracy Morrison, the director and owner of The Delta Institute for the Developing Brain, a school for neurodivergent children with autism and ADHD, was sentenced to 30 days in jail, 120 days of house arrest, and nine years of probation for allegedly being the "ringleader" of a student fight club.
An affidavit stated that Morrison made 18 children surround another child in the makeshift fight club. She had "instructed the child to sit on the floor while being surrounded." The affidavit also said that Morrison told the students to put the hands on the child and hit them with an "unknown object." Three other teachers were also arrested in connection with the incident.
