When a man tried to hijack a car outside a Chick-fil-A in Florida on Wednesday, a restaurant employee tackled and stopped the suspect before police arrived and arrested him.
William Branch, 43, was attempting to steal a car from a woman with a baby in Fort Walton Beach, WFTS-TV reported.
According to investigators, the woman was taking her baby out of the car when Branch came up to her with a stick and demanded she give him her keys. Branch eventually took the keys from the woman and got in the vehicle.
But when Mykel Gordon, who was working at the Chick-fil-A, heard screaming, he rushed to help.
After tackling Branch and getting punched in the face, Gordon successfully stopped Branch from stealing the car.
The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office shared video of the incident on Twitter.
“A major shout-out to this young man for his courage!” the sheriff’s office tweeted.
In reference to the FWB Chick-fil-A employee who ran to help a woman with a baby who was being carjacked, we want to say a sincere thank you to Ms. Kelner for providing video of a portion of the encounter. (see prior post). A major shout-out to this young man for his courage! pic.twitter.com/2Lcwe46azv
— OkaloosaSheriff (@OCSOALERTS) September 14, 2022
Branch was arrested and charged with battery and carjacking with a weapon.
William Branch of DeFuniak Springs is charged with #carjacking with a weapon & battery after he grabbed car keys from a woman with a baby outside Chick-fil-A on Beal Pkway and got into her car. An employee intervened after hearing the woman screaming. Branch was wielding a stick. pic.twitter.com/J9sGh58Z2p
— OkaloosaSheriff (@OCSOALERTS) September 14, 2022
Although he was punched by Branch, authorities noted that Gordon was not seriously injured.
The Chick-fil-A where the incident took place said it was proud of Gordon and happy that everyone involved was safe, WFTS reported.
Meanwhile, Gordon is being hailed for his bravery in stopping the crime.
Olivia Iverson, an investigative reporter for WEAR-TV, tweeted a photo of Gordon with the caption, “This is the HERO!”
“This is the HERO!”
The @ChickfilA location identified the employee as Mykel Gordon. “At Chick-fil-A our mission is to ‘Serve’ and today Mykel took it further……to ‘Save.'” @weartv pic.twitter.com/ox9UbjDatB
— Olivia Iverson (@OliviaIversonTV) September 14, 2022
Ryan Fournier, a conservative political activist and co-founder of Students for Trump, also tweeted about Gordon’s heroism.
“That dude is a hero!!” Fournier posted.
That dude is a hero!!
— Ryan Fournier (@RyanAFournier) September 14, 2022
Jeremy Redfern, deputy press secretary for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, commented on the video of Gordon tackling Branch and praised Chick-fil-A.
“And I’m guessing it still didn’t slow down the service at the drive-thru,” he tweeted.
And I’m guessing it still didn’t slow down the service at the drive-thru.
— Jeremy Redfern (@JeremyRedfernFL) September 14, 2022
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.