Wendy’s Worker Was Filmed Tied Up in the Kitchen, Manager Says It’s a TikTok Trend
A Wendy’s employee in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, was tied to kitchen equipment with trash bags during a shift, according to video recorded by one of his co-workers.
The employee, whose family says he is neurodivergent, has not been publicly identified. Co-worker Nicholus Murphy told WSMV4 Investigates that what he saw inside the restaurant disturbed him enough to start recording.
The video eventually reached supervisors, and the manager involved was fired. Murfreesboro police also examined what happened, but their initial response ended without charges.
Now the employee’s family is asking police to take another look, while disputing the explanation the manager reportedly gave officers for why the employee had been tied up.
Stay Put
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Murphy said he recorded the scene at the Wendy’s on South Church Street after seeing trash bags used to secure his co-worker to kitchen equipment.
He told WSMV4 Investigates that manager Michiko Burton had told workers she needed the employee to “stay put” while she handled work elsewhere in the restaurant.
Murphy also recorded what happened after he sent the footage to supervisors. In a meeting with employees, an area manager described the incident as “unacceptable” and said Burton was no longer a manager at the restaurant.
The restaurant’s general manager separately confirmed that a manager had been fired because of the incident, according to WSMV/Gray News reporting.
A Different Story
The account Burton reportedly gave police differed from the explanation Murphy said workers heard inside the restaurant.
WSMV4 Investigates reported that it obtained a Murfreesboro police report in which Burton described the incident as part of a TikTok trend and said it had been intended as a joke.
Murphy and the employee’s family rejected that explanation.
“If there was a TikTok trend, then where’s the TikTok?” Murphy told the station.
GH was unable to independently access the underlying incident report via an online public reporting database. The Murfreesboro Police Department says police reports are public under Tennessee law, but its website directs people seeking copies through the department’s Records Section rather than providing a searchable archive of incident reports.
That distinction matters to the sourcing here: the details of what Burton reportedly told officers are carried by WSMV’s reporting from the police report, rather than a report independently obtained by GH.
No Charges
Police also interviewed the employee who had been tied up.
WSMV reported that he told officers he was not upset and had not been injured. Police did not file charges following that initial investigation.
His family nevertheless wants the case reopened.
The family’s position comes after Murphy’s video and the separate recording of the employee meeting provided a second view of how Wendy’s management handled the episode internally.
An area manager can be heard condemning what happened during that meeting, while the restaurant’s general manager later confirmed the termination.
After The Video
Wendy’s of Bowling Green, the franchisee operating the restaurant, said in a statement carried by Gray News that employee safety and well-being are a priority and that the conduct was inconsistent with the company’s standards.
The franchisee said the matter was investigated after it learned what had happened and that “appropriate action was taken.”
WSMV4 Investigates also tried to reach Burton by phone and through social media for its original report but did not receive a response.
As of Sept. 12, Murfreesboro police had not posted a public statement on the department’s website announcing a new disposition in the case. The most directly supported status remains that the first police response produced no charges and the employee’s family is seeking another review.
