A California widower claimed McDonald’s employees stood by and made no effort to save his wife’s life when she was fatally attacked by a “bum” in the drive-thru.
Jose Juan Rangel filed a lawsuit against the fast-food chain and two franchisees in Los Angeles Superior Court on Jan. 8, nearly two years after his wife, Maria Vargas Luna, was attacked at a McDonald’s in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of East Los Angeles.
Rangel, 75, and Luna, 58, were trapped in their car at the Golden Arches drive-thru when a homeless man, later identified as Charles Cornelius Green Jr., approached them in March 2024, according to the lawsuit obtained by Law & Crime.
Green had wandered around the drive-thru area for “at least ten minutes,” asking customers for money before approaching the couple, Rangel’s attorney, Ali R. Kazempour, alleged.
Green allegedly launched himself at Rangel and repeatedly punched him in the face through the open driver’s side window.
Luna jumped out of the car to help her husband, but Green pushed her to the ground, causing her head to hit the asphalt and causing catastrophic injuries that led to permanent brain damage, according to the complaint.
The complaint alleged that McDonald’s employees “never called police or requested emergency assistance” during the attack, despite “visible warning signs” leading to the physical altercation that required action.
“Defendants’ employees had sufficient time to observe Green’s behavior, recognize the danger and intervene before the attack,” the lawsuit said.
Police arrived after Rangel was injured and his wife lay unconscious on the ground.
Luna was transported to the hospital, where she was on life support for several months before dying from her injuries.
Green was allegedly a “known drifter” who regularly hung out at McDonald’s, and employees were aware that his presence created “unpredictable and alarming encounters” for customers, the complaint said.
“Defendants’ failure to employ security personnel or implement security measures allowed Green to remain on the premises and created the circumstances that led to the attack.”
Rangel’s lawsuit alleges that employees ignored obvious dangers, failed to monitor customer areas and acted negligently, claiming they still had a duty to “respond reasonably” once Green became threatening, even without a security guard.
The complaint also alleges that the McDonald’s location has become a magnet for crime, alleging that Los Angeles Police responded to the restaurant 132 times between 2020 and March 2024 for violent incidents and criminal activity.
Police are said to have dealt with 90 criminal or violent incidents at the location, with at least 70 of the calls involving assault, battery or disturbance.
“These repeated events provided Defendants with actual and constructive notice that violence, trespassing, and loitering were creating persistent and dangerous conditions on the premises,” the complaint said.
“Despite the history of similar incidents, the visible warning signs immediately before the attack, and the attack unfolding in plain sight for several minutes, the defendants chose not to take any action to protect (Rangel) or his now deceased wife.”
Green initially faced misdemeanor and misdemeanor battery charges, but prosecutors dropped the misdemeanor charge after determining Luna’s fall was an accident. Fox 11 reported.
Green was later let go on his own recognizance, and the case remains unsolved.
The couple’s daughter, Veronica Rangel, criticized then-Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón, accusing him of “whitewashing” the crime against her parents.
“My father’s wife, our stepmother, is dying – or almost dead – and where is the justice? There was no justice at all,” Veronica Rangel said KTL at the time.
