CNN news 2010-04-06 加文本

2010-04-06 cnn

PHILLIPS: Their child has brain damage and this is what they got. Sorry, no food, no service, no sympathy. Now get out. A Texas couple says that's pretty much how it went down at a restaurant and how they were treated. I guess sensitivity isn't on the menu.

More from this story now, cnn affiliate WFAA Jason Whitley brings us the story.

MATT JOHNSON, MAKENNA'S FATHER: Yes, there she is.

JASON WHITLEY, cnn AFFILIATE WFAA (voice-over): Makenna is the middle child, an exuberant 5-year-old with special needs after being born with brain damage.

MARIANNE JOHNSON, MAKENNA'S MOTHER: Makenna --

WHITLEY: Mom and dad say her world is often accommodating, but recently humiliating.

MARIANNE JOHNSON: I felt as if -- my daughter was treated as if she was an animal. She's a 5-year-old little girl. She's beautiful.

WHITLEY: The Johnsons say they never expected what happened as they lunched recently at a Chinese buffet in Plano.

MATT JOHNSON: Well, Makenna makes an "uh" sound -- ok, whenever she wants more.

MARIANNE JOHNSON: You're a happy girl?

MATT JOHNSON: And she hits her chest and she says "uh", definitely not any louder than the other kids in the restaurant.

WHITLEY: But her father, a pastor turned policeman says the manager marched over, stuffed suckers in her hand and singled them all out.

MATT JOHNSON: He said, well, everyone is complaining and you're too loud and you need to go. You need to leave. And I said, are you serious? And he said go, go, go.

WHITLEY: It happened at the Great Wall Super Buffet on West Plano Parkway. The manager wouldn't talk to us on camera, but showed us surveillance video of what happened. The manager said he never touched Makenna and never asked them to leave only to be quiet because he says four or five senior citizens complained of noise then got up to move.

MARIANNE JOHNSON: This shouldn't happen to anyone.

WHITLEY: The Johnson's filed a complaint with the Department of Justice alleging the restaurant discriminated against their daughter and violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by asking her to leave.

A claim the diner disputes and feds will decide.

PHILLIPS: Well, we'll definitely stay on the story and let you know how it develops and ultimately ends.