'She was upset with her order': Woman charged for firing gun in Wendy's drive-thru

[left-of-center2012]

EUCLID, Ohio (WJW) – A 37-year-old Ohio woman accused of firing shots in a fast food lane never ended up getting her dinner Friday. Instead, she was served with a felony weapons charge and an order to stay away from Wendy’s.
Tia Taylor was arrested after she allegedly fired at least three gunshots in the Wendy’s drive-thru lane.

“From our understanding, she was upset with her order,“ said Euclid Police Chief Scott Meyer. “She felt it was taking too long and she had some choice words for the staff, letting them know her order better be right. The manager heard her swearing at the staff members. He then told her she would not be served and to leave the lane. She was upset with that and she then fired three rounds. One hit the sign.”

Taylor appeared in court Monday. Her bond was set at $25,000 and her case was sent to the Cuyahoga County Grand Jury. It will be up to the grand jurors to determine if she should be indicted on a charge of improper handling of a firearm. As a condition of her bond, the judge ordered her to stay away from the restaurant and to not carry a firearm.

“The whole incident is just disgusting, this level of carelessness and recklessness,” said Euclid Police Captain Mitch Houser. “In my 26 years here, this is just one of the craziest things I can recall happening. This shooting could have led to any level of horrible outcomes.”

https://www.kxan.com/news/national-news/she-was-upset-with-her-order-woman-charged-for-allegedly-firing-gun-in-wendys-drive-thru/

[ret5hd]

1. Something I have never fully understood:

What are the factors that determine whether something is brought to a grand jury vs. being arrested on-the-spot?

[taxi]

4. I guess they would have to get the exact bullet from the sign first

before they would even have a chance of proving she fired it.

[PTWB]

5. What makes you think that is the only way they can prove the charges?

[taxi]

7. What makes me think that

in denying the charges against her that she would not want to see proof of what she is accused of?
Presumption of innocence, I guess.

[PTWB]

11. Your suggestion was that the only way to prove she committed the crime was to recover and link...

the bullet to a gun. It seems to me there are many, many more ways to prove it.

Why do you think proof is limited to a forensic analysis of a recovered bullet?

[taxi]

13. My suggestion,

saying that an action would be necessary before there was a chance of proving something, is sound.
If she says she's not guilty of improperly handling the gun, then it must be proven that she did improperly handle it.
Show me the bullets.

[PTWB]

15. What the heck?

You honestly can’t think of ANY OTHER WAY to prove the case than recovery and analysis of the fired bullet?

😂

We won’t even get into the limited value of analysis of the bullet itself.

[taxi]

20. My mistake - if they had the bullet the charge would be for discharging the weapon.

The grand jury is for improper handling of a firearm, and she wouldn't be facing a grand jury if she wasn't fighting the charge.
She can still be a PITA though.

eta - so I'm saying she didn't do it. There is no proof she fired the gun.

[Justice matters.]

28. What about the employees who can ALL testify under oath that the idiot did it?

Don't oaths of telling the truth, only the truth, even matter anymore?

[taxi]

31. I've seen things with my own eyes

My toddler running toward the driveway. Her sister reaching out and grabbing her shoulder, yanking her to the ground.
It turns out I didn't see the attempted bite. All of these eye witnesses that may not have even seen a gun, just heard what they thought were shots? How many? Bunk.

[PTWB]

29. How can you say there's no proof she fired the gun?

Are you privy to the collective investigate efforts?

Here are some questions you may want to consider before taking a massive jump to the conclusions you’ve drawn.

What is shown on the surveillance video from the Wendy’s in question?

How about their drive through cameras?

Did the suspect confess?

Were any witnesses located who positively identified the suspect?

Was a firearm recovered from the suspect?

Was a gunshot residue test conducted on the suspect? If so, what were the results (likely still pending)?

Did cell phone location records put the suspect at the scene at the time of the shooting?

Were spent shell casings recovered at the scene and/or in the suspect’s vehicle?

It seems to me that there are many ways to make this case.

Now, my question for you is this: what makes you say that this suspect “did not do it.”

Additionally, your suggestion that “she wouldn’t be facing the grand jury if she wasn’t fighting the charge” is bizarre. You’ve got your order of operations backwards.

[taxi]

30. Show me where she is guilty of mishandling the firearm without showing me she fired it.

If she fired it, show me the bullet.
You can show me all the movies and tell me all the stories that you like, but you cannot convince me that she mishandled the firearm by letting me read a story.
It seems there is a big effort to make this woman look guilty.

[iemanja]

39. Because she is

According to the info in the article. What's with your effort to exonerate her? Is it a love of guns?

[taxi]

41. I don't have one

Last edited Wed Dec 8, 2021, 05:55 PM - Edit history (1)

Haven't had one for a long time, never felt like I needed one. I would rather walk away when I can, I don't get angry, and I wouldn't be a responsible owner because there's no need to keep anything locked up. Someone might shoot you if you don't open it you know. (edit - shoot me, if I wouldn't open it (just to be clear))

I replied on this one because it was time to say something.

[PTWB]

43. LOL

Bro, you're supposed to wear the tinfoil, not eat it! What on earth makes you think there is some sort of big effort or conspiracy to make this woman look guilty?

You're now saying that you wouldn't be satisfied if the surveillance video from the drive through recorded the suspect firing the shots, along with a confession from the suspect, and the recovery of physical evidence corroborating that confession. No, the ONLY thing you put any weight on is the recovery of one of the bullets fired. Why? No one knows why you're putting so much emphasis on that single piece of evidence because you've not said why you think it is so important at the exclusion of all other evidence.

I don't want to come across as overly condescending, but it is clear you don't have even the most rudimentary knowledge of how crimes are investigated, charged, and prosecuted, nor what constitute the elements of a crime itself.

You write, "you cannot convince me that she mishandled the firearm by letting me read a story" which doesn't make a whole heap of sense. She's not being charged with mishandling a firearm, she's being charged with violating Section 2923.16 of the Ohio criminal code [Improperly handling firearms in a motor vehicle]. That statute has very specific provisions.

Subsection A reads: No person shall knowingly discharge a firearm while in or on a motor vehicle.

Subsection B reads: No person shall knowingly transport or have a loaded firearm in a motor vehicle in such a manner that the firearm is accessible to the operator or any passenger without leaving the vehicle.

If she's on video firing the gun out of her window in the drive through, she's guilty of violating subsection A and B.

Ignoring what happened at the Wendy's, if the officer recovered the loaded firearm from her or the passenger compartment of her vehicle when he pulled her over, she's guilty of violating subsection B.

[taxi]

47. From a point of view that this OP,

this piece of writing, casts this woman in a negative light.
I watch OPs like this all the time and notice how the OP itself guides the direction of the replies.
Nothing in the OP tells me that she did anything. I don't care what physical evidence and testimony anybody has. This isn't about how good the police are. We all know they are better at this shit than we even imagine. I didn't read this and think, this woman is guilty. I read the replies and thought the woman was guilty.

[soldierant]

48. There is direct evidence

in the testimony of eyewitnesses. That's what direct evidence means.

There is a difference between sentencing a person to prison and holding a person without bail pprior to trial. the former has a higher bar than the latter.

If I were on the jury, the testimony would likely convince me beyond a reasonable doubt that she did it. But we are far from that point yet.

The Sheriff only needs to convince a judge that she is a flight risk in order to hold her without bail/

[taxi]

58. agreeing that none of this will matter at the time of the grand jury

The evidence and the testimony will be what they are, and this will be just another example.

Were the narrative to be written differently, would anyone be concerned about the charges?

In a changed narrative is the person guilty?
So I imagine Mrs Tiller of Tiller County fumbling through her purse at the dry cleaners, and somehow, after correcting the teller's mistake, mishandles her weapon, and the cleaner is claiming that the gun misfired, putting a hole in their new sign. The story now tells of how the attorneys for Mrs Tiller will be appearing before a grand jury next month, and how Saturday night is pizza night at Tiller Plaza.

[RockRaven]

9. Arrested on the spot and indicted by a grand jury aren't mutually exclusive...

Arrests are about temporarily detaining people, that can be done without criminal charges ultimately arising, but if they do arise there are two ways -- and the alternative to a grand jury indictment is a preliminary hearing in front of a judge to establish probable cause.

From wikipedia:
"The federal government is required to use grand juries for all felonies, though not misdemeanors, by the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution. While all states in the U.S. currently have provisions for grand juries,[3] only half of the states actually employ them[4] and twenty-two require their use, to varying extents.[5] The modern trend is to use an adversarial preliminary hearing before a trial court judge, rather than grand jury, in the screening role of determining whether there is evidence establishing probable cause that a defendant committed a serious felony before that defendant is required to go to trial and risk a conviction on those charges."

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_juries_in_the_United_States

[Probatim]

18. Something I never fully understood - why is shooting a gun the first response to

a bad meal?

I could see shooting up an Arby's, but Wendy's food isn't that bad.

Even though I felt it necessary to get an Arby's joke in to this thread, as a gun owner, I can't fathom the thought process that calls for shooting at fast food workers.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

23. Prize-winner

I could see shooting up an Arby's, but Wendy's food isn't that bad.

[Solomon]

36. Well, it's the other way around for me.

[maxsolomon]

25. As a gun owner, you can understand

that this person was angry, and the gun a surefire, fast way to communicate that emotion to those responsible.

Impulsive shootings spurred by irrational anger or fear probably account for 90% of gun incidents in this fucked up country, including suicides.

[Probatim]

32. Fortunately for the people around me, I see my hunting rifles

as tools rather than extensions of my psyche.

It also helps that I'm not an NRA member, I don't watch Fox News, and I have an above room temperature IQ (however slight that might be).

[maxsolomon]

37. If you ask this woman why she had a handgun,

It would probably be "for protection". She might even think of it as a "tool" for that purpose, I suppose.

Instead, it was a tool for intimidation.

[USALiberal]

42. Why NRA member???

[Probatim]

46. Oops - edited to correct that I'm not a member.

See final note - room temperature IQ.

[Trust_Reality]

35. Also in a broader picture...

There is a connection between mass disinformation and mass insanity.

We have had about 6 years of broadly disbursed lies from Don the Con and friends. People like the rebellious, gun toting twit, Lauren Boebert, have become models for the insane.

[Sancho]

2. It was obviously improper...

She only hit the sign once!! Guilty!

[Buns_of_Fire]

3. Another day, another opportunity for some gunhumping

snowflake to get pissed off about... something. What happened to "an armed society is a polite society"?

[guillaumeb]

6. Gunzz and freedumb are perfect together. eom

[Kaleva]

8. She appears to be black and if so, was lucky she wasn't gunned down by the PO.

[Aristus]

10. How long before she claims she was there to protect property?

It's a lame excuse, but it seems to work...

[maxsolomon]

26. See Post 8.

It won't work in her case.

[BlackSkimmer]

12. Some people really take their fast food seriously.

These stories are so pathetic.

[IronLionZion]

14. Arm the fast food workers to defend themselves from shooters

the solution is more guns, obviously.

[chowder66]

16. Maybe we should make therapy sessions a required part of education.

[carpetbagger]

17. I miss when they just lobbed gators into the Wendy's Dr thru.

Saner people back then

[Ray Bruns]

19. Not agreeing with the women but

the local Wendy's here is slower than molasses in winter. And they always screw up my order.

I just stopped going. It seems a more level headed response than pulling out a gun and blasting away.

[Caliman73]

21. Your response is also more effective.

If you, your friends, and neighbors all stop going and Wendy's sees the drop in clientele, they will get the message much louder and clearly than one random idiot shooting at their sign.

[Poiuyt]

44. Boycotts work best when you tell the management that you are boycotting and why

rather than just discontinuing to go there.

[Caliman73]

51. Agreed.

Forgot to put that in.

[Effete Snob]

75. "I just stopped going"

That's why you never go to the drive through:

[Caliman73]

22. Never do anything with a gun that you would not do without one.

That is a piece of wisdom I was taught.

And... if you would go all violent without a gun, then you should probably never own a gun.

If convicted, that woman will likely never legally own a gun again, and that is a good thing.

[Silent3]

24. Adds a whole new level of meaning to "stay frosty" n/t

[KS Toronado]

27. WTF " and to not carry a firearm."

Judge should have taken all her firearms until the case was settled.

[Poiuyt]

45. But what if she wanted to join a well regulated militia in the meantime?

[KS Toronado]

60. She could go buy a baseball bat

The Jan 6th militia used them and spears.

[Sneederbunk]

33. To add insult to injury, she was denied Grubhub at the jail.

[cinematicdiversions]

34. Mam this is a Wendy's. NT.

[Crunchy Frog]

38. Well what else are you supposed to do when you're not happy with an order?

What good is having a gun if you can't use it to express your dissatisfaction with the service at a fast food place? This is our sacred, God given freedom that we're talking about.

[Evolve Dammit]

40. If she were POC she'd be dead. Over and out.

[AncientAndy]

50. Court records show she is Black.

[Evolve Dammit]

52. good sleuthing. Arresting cops must have had good training. For a change.

[AncientAndy]

53. Thanks.

Maybe next time you’ll check first before making such a definitive statement.

[BlackSkimmer]

57. Is that all they're charging her with?

Holy cow.

[Evolve Dammit]

54. ANYONE that feels compelled to use firearms for something other than life or death is beyond me.

Only in America. This entitlement to use firearms is total wild west bullshit. If we can't get our DOJ to aggressively prosecute a violent fucking coup, we are on a road to more violence. I hope the GOP MAGATs are ready for reciprocity.

[PTWB]

59. You think America is the only place where people misuse firearms?

[Caliman73]

61. Not the only place. The place more likely than any other high income society.

You have to know the numbers. We rank # 2 in death by firearm.

Brazil (49436)
United States (37038)
Venezuela (28515)
Mexico (22116)
India (14710)
Colombia (13169)
Philippines (9267)
Guatemala (5980)

Look at the list and tell me what you see. I will tell you what I see. Every other country on that list is racked with poverty, high levels of government corruption, recovering or still in the grips of internal wars, or a narco state. Then there is us. The richest country in the world and most powerful country on the planet.

We are a place that misuses firearms, that has the ability to actually fix the issue, but which does nothing to do so.

[PTWB]

62. The person I was responding to said, specifically, "only in America."

[Caliman73]

64. Understood. Hyperbole is not helpful.

It does not allow for honest discussion.

[EX500rider]

66. "We rank # 2 in death by firearm."

Actually per capita we rank 17th in homicides by firearm, behind such paradises as Costa Rica, Panama & Jamaica.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_firearm-related_death_rate

By all homicides though we rank 74th.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentional_homicide_rate

[Evolve Dammit]

65. per capita, there is no comparison. You didn't know that?

[EX500rider]

67. Except the 16 countries with higher rates?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_firearm-related_death_rate

[Evolve Dammit]

68. If you want to compare us with nations run by para miltary juntas and death squads, OK

[EX500rider]

69. Really, Costa Rica is run by Juntas & death squads? Didn't notice that the 5 years i lived there. nt

[Evolve Dammit]

71. Guess you were just lucky!

[EX500rider]

72. Or I know more about Costa Rica then you do. nt

[Evolve Dammit]

73. I certainly hope so if you lived there.

[AncientAndy]

74. This is the second time in this comment thread you've been completely wrong.

You should really research these things before making such unconditional statements. Both times the correct information was found with less than one minute of Googling.

Unless you’re just making things up and expecting people not to doublecheck.

[BlackSkimmer]

70. Except, no. nt

[Skittles]

76. she IS a POC

please stop with that nonsense

[Evolve Dammit]

77. I was wrong. Mea culpa. I already acknowledged that

[Skittles]

78. I do understand there is disparity with arrests and sentences of POC

but the idea that POC are *always* treated unfairly is simply incorrect

[louis-t]

49. These people are taught from birth...

Any problem in life can be solved with a gun. Don't buy your kids a gun for Christmas. Buy them a guitar instead.

[cinematicdiversions]

63. Really "These people?" NT

[louis-t]

79. People who carry a gun with them wherever they go in case

they get angry and have to intimidate someone. What did you think I meant?

[ecstatic]

55. Talk about hangry. Jeez

I really can't relate because I'm extremely picky and mostly grossed out by the thought of eating fast food. I've seen and heard too many horror stories.

Also, one of my rules is to not eat anything prepared by a stranger that I (or someone with me) was in a heated argument with. Seems like common sense, but maybe not?

[marie999]

56. If all you have is a hammer, you see all your problems as nails. If all you have is a gun,

you see all your problems as targets.

[riversedge]

80. TOO DAMN MANY GUNS!! reminds me of the woman who pointed her gun at another person over a parking

space.

Both of these folks pulling guns should serve time in jail and have their gun permits forever banished!