(Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
It must be something in the pizza.
For some inexplicable reason, Chuck E. Cheese’s is no stranger to criminal activity down in Tampa Bay, Florida. According to WFTS, some chains are attracting emergency personnel once a week on average.
The ABC affiliate examined five separate locations in the Bay Area, pulling calls for service for all of last year. What they found is honestly pretty remarkable.
“Emergency personnel were called to the Clearwater and Wesley Chapel locations 18 times each. They were called to the address in Carrollwood 38 times. The St. Petersburg location had five calls for service and the Brandon location had 61,” the report reads. Right off the bat, that’s an alarming amount of calls. But dig a little deeper and you’ll soon realize just how nuts it truly is.
WFTS compared these numbers to local gentleman’s clubs and, well, just take a look for yourself.
“Charlotte’s Gentleman’s Club on E. Nebraska Avenue had 0 calls for service in 2016. But Mons Venus, The Penthouse Club and Goodies had a total of 27 assaults, batteries, fights and disturbances between them. Still, none had more than the Brandon Chuck E. Cheese’s.”
Somehow, a restaurant chain for kids is running into more trouble than strip clubs. Logic evades me here.
So, what are all these 911 calls for?
According to the report, deputies were called to the Brandon location 13 times in 2016 for assaults, batteries, fights, and disturbances. A total of 25 of these infractions were reported at the five different addresses combined.
Chuck E. Cheese’s corporate office sent WFTS the following statement:
“We’re committed to the safety of our guests and take great measures to protect the experience children and families have in our restaurants. Incidents are actually very rare and only occur with a very small percentage of those who visit us. And unfortunately, as in kids’ soccer and baseball games across the country, typically such incidents involve adults – not the children. Safety is one of our company’s four core values, and many of the measures we have in place – such as our industry leading Kid Check system – are transparent to our guests to encourage an environment Where A Kid Can Be a Kid.”
Sure, a kid can be a kid at Chuck E. Cheese’s. But it also sounds like drunk adults can be… too drunk and too adult.
