Man seen on video tattooing someone inside McDonald’s in SC. He faces charges, cops say
Video shows a man giving a tattoo inside a McDonald’s dining room, leading to his arrest in South Carolina, officials said.
The man is seen wearing gloves as he holds a tattoo gun against someone’s arm at the fast-food restaurant on Fleming Street in Laurens, roughly 70 miles northwest of Columbia, news outlets reported on Tuesday.
After the video of the makeshift tattoo shop circulated on social media, police said they identified the artist as 28-year-old Brandon Presha. He is accused of illegal tattooing and underage tattooing, as the person who received the body art was a minor, WYFF and WSPA reported.
News outlets didn’t list an attorney for Presha, and the Laurens Police Department didn’t share information with McClatchy News on Tuesday or Wednesday.
In response to a request for comment about the video, the Laurens franchise in an email said McDonald’s restaurants place importance on the “safety and well-being” of their workers and customers.
“The conduct reported is not in line with the values of our organization or in line with our expectations for how restaurants should be run,” the emailed statement said. “We are investigating the incident and will take appropriate action to ensure that my restaurant is both a safe place for my employees to work and for my customers to enjoy.”
Officials said Presha didn’t have a license when he was seen working on a tattoo at a McDonald’s table. The person receiving the tattoo was younger than 18, the legal age to get one in South Carolina, the Laurens County Advertiser reported.
“We’ve never had one like this before,” Chrissie Latimore, chief of the Laurens Police Department, told the newspaper. “We’re quite stunned to say the least.”
The case also left tattoo enthusiasts grossed out.
“That’s so nasty and disgusting,” Colt Strickland, a tattoo parlor owner, told WHNS. “For the next person that comes in there — what if that was your kid and they got something on them just by eating their food on the table?”
When asked about the McDonald’s video, the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control on Tuesday told McClatchy News it doesn’t have the power to take action on suspected unlicensed tattooing but said it had been in touch with local officials.
“To ensure the health, safety, and welfare of the public, DHEC does ensure complaints about unlicensed tattoo facilities are sent to local law enforcement for action as deemed necessary,” state health officials wrote in an email.
Presha was reportedly arrested Tuesday and taken to jail on the charges related to the video.
