CINCINNATI —
An assistant manager at an Arby’s in southwestern Ohio who jumped out of a drive-thru window to escape a knife-wielding robber has been fired because she repeatedly violated company policy against working alone after hours, the company said Tuesday.
Mary Archer sent the last employee home after midnight Friday when a man armed with a knife came into the Arby’s in Fairborn, police Sgt. Paul Hicks said. Archer told officers that when the man demanded money, she pushed him and jumped out the window while screaming for help, Hicks said.
The man fled and had not been found as of Tuesday. Archer was not hurt.
Arby’s Restaurant Group, based in Atlanta, said in a statement that Archer was fired Saturday for repeatedly violating the after-hours policy.
“We consider the safety and security of Arby’s employees and guests to be of utmost importance,” the statement said. “For this reason, operators of Arby’s restaurants establish and must strictly enforce safety and security procedures designed to keep employees and guests out of harm’s way. We regret this incident and its consequences, but the protection of employees and guests is paramount.”
Archer, 56, did not return a call for comment Tuesday. She told WHIO-TV over the weekend that she thought she was going to die in the robbery attempt.
“I had pushed him away ... because I’m like ‘I’m not going to die in Arby’s tonight. I’m just not,”’ said Archer, who said she had worked at the restaurant for nearly 23 years.
She said she never thought she would be fired after surviving an attempted robbery “especially since my life was at stake.” She said she did not want her job back, however.
Hicks said that police have responded to the Arby’s three times in the last three months, including Friday, and that the business does not have surveillance cameras.
An Arby’s spokeswoman declined to comment on security at the restaurant, which is a franchisee. A message left with a spokeswoman for the restaurant owner, GZK Restaurant Systems, did not immediately return a call for comment Tuesday.
———
Follow Amanda Lee Myers on Twitter at https://twitter.com/AmandaLeeAP
For more on this story and other local news, subscribe to The Valdosta Daily Times e-Edition, or our print edition.
