Family members of the 63-year-old Houston woman who died of hypothermia at the New Iberia Arby’s on May 11th are suing Turbo Restaurants, the Texas-based company that owns the franchise. Attorney Paul Skrabanek said Nguyet Le was the acting manager when she was found dead in the walk-in cooler.
“The door handle to the freezer has been broken since at least August of last year, and we were told by this former employee that corporate even came to the restaurant and personally saw this thing broken,” said Skrabanek.
Turbo Restaurants had asked Le, who managed an Arby’s in Houston, to manage the New Iberia eatery temporarily for four to six weeks. Skrabanek said it was Le’s 41-year-old special needs son who worked with her that made the grisly discovery. He said the police told them Le tried to fight her way out.
“They found some blood on the door, her hands were bloodied. She fought pretty hard before ultimately collapsing on the floor, in basically what they described to me was freezing face first to the floor,” said Skrabanek.
Skrabanek said Le was alone at the restaurant and arrived around 9 o’clock that morning and was discovered about an hour and a half later. He said employees were using a screwdriver to go in and out of the cooler and propping the door open with a box, since Fall. He said they want to bring about awareness of the incident and are seeking monetary damages. He says he’s heard nothing from the owners.
“I was going to wait to file the suit until I heard from them because hopefully, we could work together to schedule this inspection and I’ve heard nothing from them, so it kind of forced my hand to file it,” said Skrabanek.
Skrabanek said Le, the mother of four was from a tight-knit hard-working Asian family.
Turbo Restaurants has not commented on the incident.
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