Employees at a Texas In-N-Out Burger received online praise for trying to stop a pair of seemingly drunk drivers from leaving their parking lot.
A video of the incident, posted to TikTok by Joshua Kramer (@gemini_josh), shows the alleged drunk couple—a man and woman—sitting in the front seats of a black truck. The TikTok has received over 760,000 since it was posted on Dec. 29.
It’s not clear from the video where the couple parked initially. But Kramer, who narrates the video, said the man driving was “obviously under the influence of something.” During one point in the video, the couple moves their car so that it’s blocking the drive-thru exit.
When it starts to look like the couple wants to leave, various In-N-Out employees try to prevent them from doing so. At one point, the woman in the passenger seat is in the midst of a heated conversation with one of the workers.
Then, after driving around the lot, the woman gets out of the car and attempts to move the cones near the drive-thru entrance where several cars are in line to order. In the background, Kramer is heard shouting: “That’s not a way out!”
“All I could do was document via my phone as the police were supposedly on their way,” Kramer told the Daily Dot. “Many people criticized Me and the restaurant staff for not jumping in and taking keys…. I really wanted to but I didn’t want to escalate the situation by angering them.”
He noted that the staff did “an amazing job” of handling the situation.
Kramer posted a follow-up video showing the couple driving away without their headlights on. While employees called the police at the beginning of the incident, the TikToker clarified that they never showed up.
Still, commenters praised the In-N-Out workers for at least trying to keep the couple off the road. Others criticized law enforcement for not coming to help.
“Handled well. Thank you for calling. You potentially stopped them from making a worse mistake…,” one TikToker said.
“There are many instances you don’t have to call the police. YOU SHOULD ALWAYS CALL ON DRUNK DRIVERS; they made that decision, they can kill someone,” wrote another viewer.
“Trying to just save lives, good job! Cops always too busy when needed,” a third person said.
Kramer echoed this sentiment.
“There is no closure or resolution that comes at the end,” he told the Daily Dot. “Just a frightening [reality] that inebriated individuals are on our roadways at any given time and that the saying, ‘There’s never a cop when you need one’ rings true in this situation.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to In-N-Out via their website.
This post has been updated with a comment from Kramer.
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