A man working at McDonald’s started a massive dumpster fire when the business showed no signs of slowing down during his Sunday shift last year, federal prosecutors said.
Joshua Daryl McGregor cleared the crowd of hungry customers at the Savannah, Georgia, McDonald’s by lighting a piece of cardboard on fire and tossing it into a dumpster, which had more pieces of cardboard, according to court documents.
McGregor, now 34, of Savannah, was “frustrated because the drive through was so crowded,” court documents say.
He made sure the fire ignited, went back inside and then returned to film the blaze as it grew larger, causing cars lined up in the drive-thru to leave, including customers who never received their food, according to prosecutors.
The fire became so intense that customers in the drive-through lane had to back out of the parking lot, and the restaurant was forced to briefly close while the Savannah Fire Department extinguished the blaze, according to court documents and testimony.
There was no question McGregor caused the blaze, as he was seen starting the fire on McDonald’s surveillance footage, according to his plea agreement. At the time, he was training to be a manager and later posted footage of the fire on Facebook, prosecutors said.
“Certainly, we were disappointed that Josh would face any form of federal prison time for this incident,” McGregor’s defense attorney, William Joseph Turner, told McClatchy News on Aug. 1.
“The original recommendation to the Court was over 15 years in custody, which would have been a travesty of justice,” Turner said.
“Josh is a good man that made a mistake, and he will move past this,” he added.
McGregor filmed the fire with his cell phone and was identified on surveillance video as the person responsible for starting the fire, according to the release. He was arrested by Savannah Police Department (SPD) investigators, and in May pled guilty to the charges.