{"id":389503,"date":"2026-09-03T18:54:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-03T18:54:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/389503\/"},"modified":"2026-09-03T18:54:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T18:54:10","slug":"man-threatened-kids-inside-mcdonalds-before-they-followed-him-outside-leading-to-brawl-cops-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/389503\/","title":{"rendered":"Man threatened kids inside McDonald\u2019s before they followed him outside, leading to brawl, cops say"},"content":{"rendered":"

DANIA BEACH, Fla. \u2014 An investigation remains open and active into a fight outside of a McDonald\u2019s in Dania Beach involving an adult and several children<\/a>. <\/p>\n

It happened on Aug. 21 outside the McDonald\u2019s located at 1310 S. Federal Highway. <\/p>\n

An Olsen Middle School parent says she was picking up her kids when she saw the fight spilling out into the street.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey basically jumped an old man,\u201d said parent Yanelle Perez, who witnessed the fight. <\/p>\n

Patrick Utter also said he was there for the incident, jumping into action to help the man, but adding that neither party was innocent. <\/p>\n

\u201cA guy that maybe had mental health issues, drinking, went into the McDonald\u2019s and he said something wrong, he incited a bunch of young kids, and they followed him out here on the US 1 corridor,\u201d said Utter. \u201cThe US 1 corridor is a little bit rough over here, and more importantly, these kids that are passing through here could use some supervision.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the Broward Sheriff\u2019s Office, the man threatened to fight the kids when they were all inside the McDonald\u2019s. <\/p>\n

When the man left the restaurant, deputies said the children followed him outside, after which the fight broke out. <\/p>\n

Deputies said they are investigating whether whatever was said inside the restaurant justified what subsequently occurred outside. <\/p>\n

They said they are still waiting to speak with the man, who was not still at the McDonald\u2019s by the time deputies arrived. <\/p>\n

At the very end of the fight, video showed several witnesses trying to help the man. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey took his food, beat him up, and he fell on the floor,\u201d said Perez. \u201cThey had to have two older gentleman stop it up because it the man, he couldn\u2019t. There was like 10-15 kids on top of him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Olsen Middle School Principal Janet Giancarli sent a message to parents in regard to the incident, which stated:<\/p>\n

\u201cAn adult male approached the students and initiated a physical confrontation outside of the restaurant. The Broward Sheriff\u2019s Office responded and investigated. No one was injured.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe understand that a video of this incident is now circulating on social media and is concerning. While the incident did not occur on school grounds or during the school day, we take any situation involving our students seriously and we will continue to work closely with law enforcement regarding this matter,\u201d the statament continued. \u201cThe safety and well-being of our students remain our highest priority.\u201d<\/p>\n

Utter said he feels there needs to be more law enforcement presence in the area.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no doubt in my mind, my friend Ed Tarks, Bernard and myself, saved this guy from a really horrific ending, and that\u2019s why I\u2019m going along with this interview, because we need some help over here with police at the end of the day,\u201d said Utter. <\/p>\n

\ud83c\udfe0 News From Your Neighborhood<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by WPLG Local10.com – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DANIA BEACH, Fla. \u2014 An investigation remains open and active into a fight outside of a McDonald\u2019s in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":389504,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[249,251,250],"class_list":["post-389503","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale-headlines","tag-fort-lauderdale-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389503","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=389503"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389503\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/389504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=389503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=389503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=389503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}