Buffet Brawl Over Crab Legs Leads to Pandemonium and 2 Arrests

I love crab legs.

To be more specific, I love King Crab legs. They are big and full of juicy meat. My friend Liz says you have to fight too much with King Crab to get to the meat, but I believe the occasional prick in my finger is worth it when I get to my prize. Your mileage may vary.

As much as I love crab legs, I have never wanted to fight over them. There are, however, people who will fight you over crab legs—especially if you cut them in line at the seafood buffet.

Things got heated at the Meteor Buffet in Huntsville, Ala., Friday evening when patience grew thin and tempers flared up into a physical altercation in the crab leg line. Huntsville police officer Gerald Johnson was at the restaurant, and he told WHNT that the resulting fight included two people using tongs as swords as they battled it out over crab meat.

“Literally as I sat down and maybe took two bites out of my plate, there’s a woman who’s beating a man. People are moving around, plates are shattering everywhere,” Johnson said.

“Everyone was saying, ‘They cut me in line. She cut me in line. He cut me in line. I was here first,’” Johnson continued.

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The woman in question—Chequita Jenkins—and her opponent, John Chapman, both reportedly admitted to Johnson later that they had allowed their tempers to get the best of them after having waited in line for 10-20 minutes waiting for more crab legs to be brought out.

“They’d been waiting there for the crab legs for a good 10, 20 minutes. When they finally came out, it’s very heated. Especially if someone is taking more than their fair share,” Johnson said.

Dinner at the Meteor Buffet is $10.58 per plate (which doesn’t seem to bode well for the quality of the crab legs, to be quite honest), but Chapman and Jenkins will now likely end up paying hundreds of dollars in fines for the fracas. Chapman, who suffered a cut on top of his head, is charged with disorderly conduct. Jenkins, who was uninjured, is charged with third-degree assault.

No word on what type of damage was done to the questionable crab legs.