A co-worker’s phone camera captured a scene inside a Murfreesboro, Tennessee Wendy’s that has now traveled far beyond that kitchen. Video shows manager Michiko Burton tying a neurodivergent employee to kitchen equipment with trash bags. According to a police report, Burton told responding officers it was a TikTok trend and a joke. The employee told police he wasn’t upset or injured, and no charges were filed. Burton is no longer a manager at the restaurant, and the franchisee, Wendy’s of Bowling Green, confirmed a manager was fired over the incident.
The co-worker who recorded the video, Nicholus Murphy, disputes the joke explanation, and the employee’s family is now asking Murfreesboro police to reopen the investigation. Murphy’s question has become the one people keep repeating: if there was a TikTok trend, then where’s the TikTok? For the family, the answer isn’t just about one manager’s job status. It’s about whether an incident captured on video received the scrutiny it deserved the first time around.
The story also lands close to home here on the Suncoast, where restaurants up and down the Gulf Coast, from Sarasota to Bradenton to Venice, rely on workers of every ability level. A neurodivergent employee may hesitate to contradict a supervisor, especially in the moment, and advocates say that hesitation can too easily be read as “no harm done.”
What should accountability look like when a workplace incident is recorded but no charges follow? Let us know in the comments.
