Family of Louisiana Arby’s manager found dead in a freezer reveals how she knocked on the door until her hands were bloody before her SON found her in a fetal position – while suing fast food giant for ‘bolt broken’
- Nguyet Le, 63, was alone in the restaurant around 9 a.m. on May 11 preparing for the store to open and got stuck in the walk-in freezer
- Le’s son, who also worked at the fast food restaurant, made the grim discovery
- The mother of four and grandmother had worked at Arby’s in Houston and were temporarily sent by the company to the New Iberia, Louisiana location.
The family of a Louisiana Arby executive who froze to death in a walk-in freezer is now suing the fast food giant over claims employees had complained that the latch on the door was broken.
Nguyet Le, 63, was alone in the restaurant around 9 a.m. on May 11, preparing for the store to open when she became trapped in the food cooler. Her son, who also works for the Arbys, made the gruesome discovery.
New Iberia police said there were bloodstains on the doors, indicating she tried to escape but eventually collapsed into a fetal position. A preliminary report from the coroner’s office confirmed that the mother of four died of hypothermia.
Lawyer Paul Skrabanek, representing the family, is calling for a formal investigation into the restaurant’s alleged freezer malfunctions. A former employee told him that the interlock on the cooler had been malfunctioning since August and that the problem was known and ignored by management.
He said the family is suing in part because his questions to Arby’s would have gone unanswered. The family is seeking damages of more than $1 million.
Nguyet Le, 63, a general manager of an Arby’s in New Iberia Louisiana, froze to death on May 11, 2023 after becoming trapped in the restaurant’s walk-in freezer while performing opening duties
The inside of the freezer at Arby’s and the location where Le, a mother of four and grandmother, was trapped inside and eventually died of hypothermia, according to a preliminary coroner’s report
Nguyet Le is pictured with her son, who also worked at Arby’s in New Iberia, and the person who discovered his mother’s body
This was told by a former male employee, who did not want to be identified KATC News that multiple work orders have been submitted to repair the broken latch.
He had also taken pictures in the freezer of previous complaints.
“They know about it,” he said. “Workers have complained.”
It’s unclear what the temperature was the day Le was trapped inside and how long she fought to survive.
The freezer should be minus 10 degrees by Arby standards, according to the former employee, but said the temperature is kept lower than that.
“I believe she got stuck in the freezer door and no one was there to help her,” he said.
According to the lawsuit, employees used a screwdriver to open and close the latch on the walk-in cooler, according to a former Arby employee.
The suit also alleges that employees had a habit of pushing open the door with a box of oil because they didn’t want it to close all the way.
The location of the New Iberia Arby’s location where General Manager Le was trapped in the walk-in cooler on May 11
The lawsuit filed against Turbo Restaurants, LLC, under the umbrella of the Arby’s Restaurant Group
The family is seeking damages of more than $1 million
Le, who worked as a general manager at Arby’s in Houston, Skrabanek, was asked by the franchise’s headquarters to go to New Iberia to help run that location.
She was nearing the end of her temporary assignment, having been there for nearly a month to six weeks.
DailyMail.com has contacted Arby’s for comment.