Beyond Meat, the maker of plant-based food products, announced the suspension of its chief operating officer following reports the executive had been arrested and charged after a road rage incident in which he was accused of biting a man’s nose.
Doug Ramsey, 53, was arrested on Saturday night and charged with third-degree battery and making a terroristic threat, according to records from Washington county, Arkansas. The records show he was released on Sunday morning on a $11,085 bond.
Citing a police report from Saturday, local media reported Ramsey was arrested following a fight in a parking garage outside a University of Arkansas football game in Fayetteville, Arkansas, on Saturday.
According to the police report cited by media, Ramsey was angered when another driver’s vehicle made contact with his own. The report says Ramsey exited his car and punched through the back windshield of the other vehicle. The other driver exited his car, at which point Ramsey is alleged to have started punching him, bitten his nose and threatened to kill him.
California-headquartered Beyond Meat said in a statement on Tuesday afternoon Ramsey had been suspended effective immediately. Operations activities would now be overseen on an interim basis by Jonathan Nelson, the company’s senior vice-president for manufacturing operations.
Ramsey joined Beyond Meat in December 2021, following an almost three-decade career at Arkansas-based Tyson Foods, one of the biggest producers of traditional meat in the US.
The suspension of its COO comes at a difficult time for Beyond Meat, which in recent months has announced job cuts and downgraded its sales outlook due owing to continued inflationary pressures and the need to discount its products in an effort to attract shoppers.
Beyond Meat shares have shed more than three-quarters of their value in 2022 and closed at a record low of $16.03 on Tuesday. Shares briefly changed hands for more than $230 about two months following the company’s initial public offering in May 2019, when it floated at a price of $25 a share.