An elderly woman from Indiana passed away following a heated altercation over her Tim Hortons order, during which she attacked the manager and tore out a portion of her hair.
Anita Grayson, aged 75, entered the Fort Wayne Tim Hortons, approximately 120 miles from Indianapolis, around 8 a.m. on May 13. She verbally attacked a 17-year-old female employee due to dissatisfaction with her drive-thru order, as reported by the Fort Wayne Police Department.
Surveillance video shared by the department shows Grayson shouting and pointing at the employee, prompting the 20-year-old shift manager to intervene and ask her to leave.
Police stated that the manager made contact with Grayson when she approached the younger employee. Grayson allegedly responded by pushing the manager and striking her on the left side of her face. The force of the blow reportedly caused scratches and knocked the manager’s glasses off.
As Grayson advanced, the manager pushed her back, leading to Grayson retaliating by placing her hand on the manager’s face. This escalated into a scuffle that ended with both women on the floor.
“Ms. Grayson then grabbed the shift lead by the hair, pulling her to the ground and rolling on top of her. The shift lead can be seen swatting at Grayson’s arm as she is being held by her hair,” the department stated.
“Two Tim Hortons employees attempted to separate them but struggled to release the shift lead’s hair from Grayson’s grip. During the struggle, Ms. Grayson pulled out a chunk of hair from the shift lead’s head, leaving a raw area on top,” the report added.
Fort Wayne police responded to a 911 call about an “altercation involving a reported battery” and found Grayson unresponsive.
After the fight concluded, employees returned to their positions behind the counter, while Grayson sat at a table and made a phone call, according to investigators.
About 10 minutes later, Grayson laid down on the floor.
Paramedics administered lifesaving measures at the scene, but Grayson later died at a hospital, police reported. The cause of her death remains undisclosed.
Grayson’s daughter, Tawnda Grayson, mentioned that her mother had congestive heart failure and had been wearing a heart monitor just a week before the incident. She is seeking accountability.
“You should not enter a coffee shop for a coffee and doughnut and come out unalived. That is diabolical,” she told WPTA.
“That’s the elderly lady. That’s not how we treat our senior citizens. We be careful with them. We make sure that they’re alright. We don’t jump on them and attack them. And scare them to death.”
The department had initially not intended to release the footage but felt compelled to do so in order to counter “a dangerously false narrative” that was circulating alongside a partial video clip on social media, which only displayed the fight and ended with Grayson on the ground.
The Allen County Coroner’s Office has yet to determine Grayson’s cause and manner of death, though preliminary findings suggest there were “no significant contributory injuries,” WPTA reported.
