WILLOUGHBY, Ohio — Police in Lake County are investigating following a bizarre incident at a Willoughby restaurant this past Sunday night.
A 911 call came in just after 9:30 p.m. Sunday from a kitchen manager at Buffalo Wild Wings alleging a group of customers was trying to "dine-and-dash" and that one of his employees was on top of their car attempting to prevent them from leaving. The dispatcher advised the caller to tell the employee to get off the car, but he said she could not because they were driving recklessly and "fast as f---" in the parking lot. The manager can be heard on the call yelling for the 24-year-old worker to "get off the car."
"I really felt like I was about to die, it was the most traumatic thing I've been through in my entire life," said the employee, Kayla Sherman, in an interview with 3News' Bri Buckley.
Sherman says she was just trying to help the manager stop the group of teenage girls skipping out on their check. She was standing in front of the car when it took off, taking her with it.
"So then they just put it in drive and took off and I was still in front of it, so I was on top of it and they just started driving like crazy," Sherman said.
According to the audio, another 19-year-old male employee was briefly on the vehicle but fell off, possibly suffering at least minor injuries to his knee. Officers arrived at the scene minutes later, and dashcam video shows Sherman still on the hood of the car as the group drove out of the parking lot and westbound onto Euclid Avenue.
The white BMW sped off at speeds reaching 50 miles per hour with cops chasing it, according to a police report. Sherman says the driver was weaving in and out of traffic, turning the windshield wipers on to try and get her to fall off.
"They had no regard for my life whatsoever, they were just laughing through it all talking like nothing was happening, like I wasn't terrified for my life at all," Sherman recalls.
Sherman came off the hood about a mile away from the restaurant on the 1500 block of Douglas Road in Wickliffe. Incredibly, she did not suffer any injuries. However, she's sending a message to teenagers and their parents.
"How are these kids able to act like this? You hear about these young kids doing these crazy things all the time, its like you have to teach your kids right from wrong," Sherman adds.
Police finally pulled the vehicle over near Juna Drive and took all three occupants into custody. All were under the age of 18, and one of the passengers had been reported missing out of Cleveland. Authorities also allege they found marijuana in the car.
Specific charges against the teens were not mentioned in the report.