McDonald’s customer charged with ROBBERY for putting soda in a water cup

Daily Mail Online ^ | April 21, 2016 | Chris Summers

[Teotwawki]

Not that this is much of a news story, but I don't understand the felony charge. I can see a felony if they charge him for hitting the manager with his car as he made his getaway, or perhaps it's felony robbery if he committed battery during the commission of the robbery, but if the only charge is robbery, how is this a felony?

[Ingtar]

I do not know for certain, but I suspect it is felony robbery because he hit the manager with his car while committing theft.

[Mears]

The automobile incident may make it a felony.

Dumb kid.

.

[Larry Lucido]

The headline is a lie.

[Haiku Guy]

If something had not been stolen, it would have been assault. Since something was stolen, it is not just assault, but robbery.

The ridiculous thing here is that these guys hit the manager with a car over a couple of cups of soda. The law should be very interested in people this stupid and violent.

[HamiltonJay]

Hitting the manager with his car is the felony... Read the entire story, not the headline.

[TexasCajun]

"Feel The Bern!"

[apillar]

Most likely bumping the Manager with the car, otherwise it should have just been petty larceny at the most. However, I’m not sure what was dumber, risking a criminal record by stealing a soda or the manager seriously risking his own life trying to prevent some kid who stole a soda from fleeing.

[AppyPappy]

Crud-stache gave him away

[The Continental Op]

Stealing soda = petty theft.
Stealing soda by force or fear = robbery.

If thief obtains property non-forcibly via petty theft, but during flight uses force or fear to retain same = robbery.

[Political Junkie Too]

how is this a felony?

Arrested for possessing 20 ounces of Coke?

-PJ

[BigEdLB]

Exactly Describe hitting the manager with a car. Then it becomes a felony.

[Pollster1]

McDonald’s customer charged with ROBBERY for putting soda in a water cup . . . But Morris reversed his car and drove off, allegedly hitting the manager as he made his getaway.

The headline is so inaccurate that it is misleading. He wasn't charged with robbery for taking a cup of soda. He was charged with robbery for assault while committing theft. He reminds me of this "gentle giant".

[JimRed]

Petty theft, if he did it unobserved and had no interaction with a person. Robbery if he interacted with a person while performing the deed. Like burglary vs. robbery; if no one’s home it’s burglary.

[Gay State Conservative]

Hitting a customer? Yah,charge him.Stealing the soda...2 hours community service AT MOST.

[PAR35]

I don’t know Arkansas criminal law, but I would have guessed theft rather than robbery. The interaction with the manager may have qualified it for the stiffer charge.

[Teotwawki]

I read the story. In fact I excerpted from it, beginning and end. The police did not charge him with anything related to hitting the manager. They only charged him for taking the soda.

[AngelesCrestHighway]

And to think Obama has not been arrested for what he has done...

[Trillian]

The headline is just a way to get people to read it. I’m sure if the headline said he hit the manager with a car, not as many people would have looked at it.

[lacrew]

This water cup scheme has become almost SOP in the ‘hood. The employees aren’t supposed to try and stop it - hope this guy keeps his job.