LOS ANGELES, CA – A wrongful death lawsuit filed earlier in January aimed against the fast food giant McDonald’s alleges employees at a Los Angeles location failed to call 911 while a woman was fatally attacked by a male vagrant at the location’s drive-thru.
According to a lawsuit filed with the Superior Court of California out of Los Angeles County on January 8th, the surviving spouse of Maria Vargas Luna is suing McDonald’s Corporation and other related parties in connection to her murder which occurred at a McDonald’s drive-thru back in March of 2024.
Jose Rangel claims in the suit that he and his wife Luna, who was 58 years old at the time, visited a McDonald’s drive-thru located at 245 N. Soto Street in Los Angeles on March 8th, 2024, where the unthinkable would eventually occur.
A vagrant known as Charles Cornelius Green, who allegedly regularly frequented the McDonald’s location, had apparently been approaching vehicles at the drive-thru for a period of ten minutes, bothering waiting patrons in line while asking for money.
“During this period, GREEN approached multiple vehicles, solicited money, and stood inches from customers’ cars,” the lawsuit reads, adding, “Employees saw GREEN clearly on live security camera feeds and through the drive-thru window for the entire duration, yet they took no action to intervene or remove him.”
Rangel’s suit stresses that the presence of homeless individuals like Green at the McDonald’s location “created unpredictable and alarming encounters for customers,” which employees of the location were well aware that “this recurring condition created a foreseeable risk of confrontation and injury.”
Despite claims that employees at the location could easily observe via surveillance systems that Green was approaching vehicles, the employees reportedly opted to not instruct Green to leave or even call authorities to have the individual removed from the property. When Green reportedly launched an unprovoked attack on Rangel through the driver’s side window, the aforementioned inaction by restaurant staff reportedly continued.
“Without warning, GREEN lunged at Plaintiff and struck him repeatedly in the face through the open driver-side window,” the lawsuit reads, adding, “Employees watched the assault unfold through the drive-thru window and on live video feeds and still chose not to call 911 or activate any emergency response.”
Green then reportedly turned his attention to Luna in the passenger seat, resulting in Rangel, who was 74 years old at the time of the incident, exiting the vehicle so as to protect his wife. Rangel was taken to the ground by Green as his wife watched him reportedly being brutalized by the vagrant, which she then exited the vehicle to help stop the attack.
After Luna exited the vehicle to help her husband, Green reportedly pushed her to the ground which resulted in her head striking the pavement. According to Rangel’s lawsuit, “employees never called law enforcement or requested emergency assistance” throughout the entirety of the attack, with first responders only arriving well after Luna lay unconscious and Rangel still reeling from the attack he suffered.
The fall Luna suffered reportedly left her on life support for several months before she succumbed to her injuries. A June 2024 report from FOX LA notes that Green had his charges reduced in the case to misdemeanor battery by then-District Attorney George Gascón’s office, charging Green only for the attack against Rangel while claiming Luna’s fatal fall from being shoved during the attack could be construed as accidental and not intentional.
The status of Green’s criminal case is unclear as of this writing, with the latest update coming from a GoFundMe established by Rangel’s son shortly after the incident. As of June 21st, 2024, Rangel’s son revealed that following Green being released without having to post bail following his initial arrest, he missed the court appearance scheduled on said date and a warrant was issued for his arrest.
McDonald’s Corporation has yet to issue a formal statement regarding the lawsuit filed.
According to a lawsuit filed with the Superior Court of California out of Los Angeles County on January 8th, the surviving spouse of Maria Vargas Luna is suing McDonald’s Corporation and other related parties in connection to her murder which occurred at a McDonald’s drive-thru back in March of 2024.
Jose Rangel claims in the suit that he and his wife Luna, who was 58 years old at the time, visited a McDonald’s drive-thru located at 245 N. Soto Street in Los Angeles on March 8th, 2024, where the unthinkable would eventually occur.
A vagrant known as Charles Cornelius Green, who allegedly regularly frequented the McDonald’s location, had apparently been approaching vehicles at the drive-thru for a period of ten minutes, bothering waiting patrons in line while asking for money.
“During this period, GREEN approached multiple vehicles, solicited money, and stood inches from customers’ cars,” the lawsuit reads, adding, “Employees saw GREEN clearly on live security camera feeds and through the drive-thru window for the entire duration, yet they took no action to intervene or remove him.”
Rangel’s suit stresses that the presence of homeless individuals like Green at the McDonald’s location “created unpredictable and alarming encounters for customers,” which employees of the location were well aware that “this recurring condition created a foreseeable risk of confrontation and injury.”
Despite claims that employees at the location could easily observe via surveillance systems that Green was approaching vehicles, the employees reportedly opted to not instruct Green to leave or even call authorities to have the individual removed from the property. When Green reportedly launched an unprovoked attack on Rangel through the driver’s side window, the aforementioned inaction by restaurant staff reportedly continued.
“Without warning, GREEN lunged at Plaintiff and struck him repeatedly in the face through the open driver-side window,” the lawsuit reads, adding, “Employees watched the assault unfold through the drive-thru window and on live video feeds and still chose not to call 911 or activate any emergency response.”
Green then reportedly turned his attention to Luna in the passenger seat, resulting in Rangel, who was 74 years old at the time of the incident, exiting the vehicle so as to protect his wife. Rangel was taken to the ground by Green as his wife watched him reportedly being brutalized by the vagrant, which she then exited the vehicle to help stop the attack.
After Luna exited the vehicle to help her husband, Green reportedly pushed her to the ground which resulted in her head striking the pavement. According to Rangel’s lawsuit, “employees never called law enforcement or requested emergency assistance” throughout the entirety of the attack, with first responders only arriving well after Luna lay unconscious and Rangel still reeling from the attack he suffered.
The fall Luna suffered reportedly left her on life support for several months before she succumbed to her injuries. A June 2024 report from FOX LA notes that Green had his charges reduced in the case to misdemeanor battery by then-District Attorney George Gascón’s office, charging Green only for the attack against Rangel while claiming Luna’s fatal fall from being shoved during the attack could be construed as accidental and not intentional.
The status of Green’s criminal case is unclear as of this writing, with the latest update coming from a GoFundMe established by Rangel’s son shortly after the incident. As of June 21st, 2024, Rangel’s son revealed that following Green being released without having to post bail following his initial arrest, he missed the court appearance scheduled on said date and a warrant was issued for his arrest.
McDonald’s Corporation has yet to issue a formal statement regarding the lawsuit filed.
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