FOX23 EXCLUSIVE: Family of man killed by Arby’s manager to receive six-figure settlement

TULSA, Okla. — The family of a man shot and killed by a restaurant manager in east Tulsa in March 2019 is set to receive a more than $150,000 settlement by the restaurant’s owner.

Desean Tallent was shot and killed by Deionna Young, a then-manager at the Arby’s located East 41st Street and South Garnett, during a heated disagreement. Young told Tulsa Police that Tallent spit on her and yelled at her, but according to Jeff Krigel, the attorney for Tallent’s family, a witness came forward and said Tallent and other customers walked into Young’s bad day where she was already short tempered and frustrated with other matters.

Young said she felt threatened when Tallent came back to the store a second time after their first heated exchange, but Tallent’s family said he wasn’t returning to the restaurant to get revenge or hurt Young, he was returning to ask for his order to be fixed.

Young then got in her car, followed Tallent up Garnett to East 31st Street where she shot him once in the torso. Tallent would crash his car into the front of a Walmart Neighborhood Market where he would die from his wound.

Young pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

“It’s been hard,” Meoshia Turner said to FOX23 on Wednesday. “I’m working two jobs and doing the job of two parents just trying to raise our family. I have to rely on my sister and other family members for things he normally would’ve done.”

Turner and her four children were awarded $160,000 from the Arby’s franchisee after a court found that Turner was acting in her official managerial capacity and never clocked out to pursue and then kill Tallent, court records obtained by FOX23 show. Krigel argued that Young killed Tallent while she was still on the clock. Though the settlement was approved by one Tulsa County judge, it is still being held up in probate court because some of the money must be held in a trust for Tallent’s children until they reach 18.

Just under $1,000 of the money will go to OSU Medical Center where Tallent was rushed to before being declared dead, but there is still an outstanding bill for the services they rendered.

“Its been three years of hell to be honest with you,” Turner said. “I still don’t feel like we got justice with the plea deal she got.”

Turner was married to Tallent for nearly eight years.

“My kids see their friends with their dads, and they realize they can’t do those things,” Turner said.

FOX23 reached out to Arby’s for a comment. We were told they did not have one since the settlement is with a franchisee. So far, FOX23 has not heard back from the franchisee.

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