Dunkin Donuts staff caught on video pouring water on homeless man

Employees sacked following protests outside the shop

A homeless man who fell asleep in a branch of Dunkin’ Donuts had water poured on him by members of staff.

Jeremy Dufresne was napping at a table when employees at the shop in Syracuse, New York drenched him with liquid.

Staff can be heard laughing in a 30-second clip of the incident was shared to Facebook.

"You going to sleep? How many times I've got to tell you to stop sleeping in here," an employee is heard saying. “You know I’m not playing with you. And I ain’t [sic] going to call the cops on you like I said. You going to get out of here.”

Mr Dufresne said he was resting his head while charging his phone so he could call his mother.

He told the Syracuse.com website that the worker "probably had some personal problems of his own and needed someone to talk to, and he took it out on someone else, like me."

After the video went viral, there were protests outside the branch.

The franchise's owner, Kimberly Wolak, said she was “extremely disturbed” when she saw the video and had fired the employees involved.

“It not only violated our written policies, but goes against our core values as an organisation — which include creating a welcoming and hospitable environment and treating everyone with dignity and respect,” she said.

“The employees involved in the incident have been suspended pending a complete investigation, and we will be contacting the individual in the video to apologise for the negative experience.”

Ms Wolak added that the shop would work with local advocates to make sure employees were better educated on "how to engage with homeless individuals".

A fundraising web page to help Mr Dufresne, has raised more than $5,500 (£4,200) at the time of publication.