A customer died in the bathroom at Jasper’s Restaurant in Maryland (Picture: FOX 5)
A restaurant stayed open all night on Wednesday night even though it knew a person had died in its bathroom.
Patrons at Jasper’s Restaurant in Largo, Maryland were stunned when they found out the reason why the women’s restroom was closed and guarded by police – another customer had died there earlier that night.
The occupant likely died of a heart attack, according to first responders. A police report confirmed that the men’s restroom remained open and available for all customers to use.
Jasper’s confirmed the incident in an online statement.
‘Last night one of our customers tragically passed away within our establishment,’ Jasper’s Restaurants confirmed on their website. ‘On behalf of our ownership, management, and staff we send the sincerest and most heartfelt support and condolences to the deceased’s family. We will be reaching out to the family to see if there is any way we can support them in this time of grief.’
The restaurant said they ‘immediately contacted county authorities and followed their protocol and procedure. Under the authorities’ guidance, we closed the area to patrons until all emergency services could arrive and followed the direction of the authorities.’
But many people criticized the restaurant’s decision to stay open at all.
One customer took to Twitter to describe their actions as ‘money hungry.’ The same user said service was bad that night, but she felt bad for the wait staff who were dealing with a stressful situation.
The restaurant was full at the time of the incident, and people were still waiting to be seated, FOX 5 reported.
‘At that moment, we thought we were doing the right thing,’ restaurant manager Miguel Perea told the station. ‘This is something that takes a day or two to sink in, and then you realize maybe we were wrong.’
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The patron had likely died from a heart attack.