Tim Hortons Staffer Will Face No Charges After Woman, 75, Died Following a Physical Altercation in Store

A Tim Hortons employee will face no charges after a 75-year-old customer died following a physical altercation with the staffer in the store.

On May 13, Anita Grayson entered a Tim Hortons in Fort Wayne, Indiana, to complain about her food being wrong. The situation escalated, and Grayson got into a physical fight with one of the employees. Shortly after, Grayson collapsed at the restaurant and was taken to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead. The cause of death was later determined to be “acute exacerbation of congestive heart failure in the setting of a physical altercation,” according to a report from the Allen County Prosecutor’s Office.

Because video and witness evidence determined that Grayson started the altercation, as well as the fact that the coroner could not find that she sustained contributing injuries that led to her death, the medical examiner could not say with reasonable medical certainty that the altercation directly caused Grayson’s death.

“This is a heartbreaking situation for everyone involved and especially for Ms. Grayson’s family,” the prosecutor’s office wrote in a statement on social media.

It added: “We have given this case a fair and thorough review, and evaluated it on the evidence and the law, the same standard we apply to every case that comes before this office.”

According to the report, Grayson’s order, which she placed through the drive-thru, was brought to her in the parking lot. Seven minutes later, she entered the restaurant irate that her order had been made incorrectly and claimed the employees did it on purpose. She was initially yelling at a 17-year-old employee, which prompted another employee, known in the report as Employee 2, to get between Grayson and the minor.

Grayson is alleged to have called Employee 2 a “white [expletive]” before trying to swing around her and strike the minor employee. A physical altercation ensued that saw Employee 2 fall to the ground with Grayson, who ripped out a clump of her hair as the employee kicked and punched to free herself. Eventually, employees separated them and Grayson sat down before experiencing a medical episode and moving to the floor.

According to the report, she told employees who tried to offer her water to leave her alone before police arrived and she was taken to the hospital.