Some Northern California McDonald’s employees are being honored for taking quick action to save a woman in distress on Christmas Eve.
The woman entering the Lodi, California, restaurant asked one of the employees to hide her, call 911, and provided the employee a license plate number for a vehicle she was riding in, the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.
After she came back from a quick bathroom break, the man whom she was apparently traveling with demanded they use the drive-thru window instead of waiting inside the restaurant to pick up food.
When their car approached the drive-thru window, the woman— who was driving at the time— allegedly mouthed the words “help me” to the cashier on duty.
By that time, San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Deputies arrived to arrest the man.
Authorities say Eduardo Valenzuela, 35, faces charges of making threats, possessing stolen property, and an additional count of felon in possession of a firearm.
Valenzuela had a firearm in the trunk of the vehicle that was reported stolen in another state, police said, adding that he had also allegedly treated the woman violently in the past and threatened the woman’s life.