An Aiken County woman says she and her daughters were kicked out of a restaurant in the small town of Jackson because her 4-year-old child was crying. The little girl is autistic.

Gail Martin and her daughters just wanted to grab at bite to eat at the Buckhead Cafe in Jackson one day last week. The family was just about to order when 4-year-old Alyssa began crying; she suffers from autism and that made one customer very upset.

“He said, you need to pick her up and you need to get her out of here now,” Gail said.

Gail didn't know who was yelling at her at first, but turns out it was Jackson Police Chief Dennis Rushton, who was eating in another part of the restaurant.

“I wasn't embarrassed from Alyssa's behavior. I was embarrassed at the way it was handled,” she said.

Now Alyssa's family wants an explanation. Her grandfather, Ray Martin, says Chief Rushton knew his granddaughter was autistic. But when he spoke to Rushton, instead of getting an apology, he says he got this response.

“I'll tell you the answer he told me 'it was irritating me, getting on my nerves and beginning to make my head hurt,” Martin said.

Martin says he met with Jackson Mayor Todd Etheridge to get an apology.

“They still don't admit any wrong and they said we'll talk to the police chief and he was wrong and that was the extent of it,” said Martin.

We called the mayor's office and we were told he is on vacation. We spoke with Chief Rushton who refused to comment on camera. Martin says his granddaughter is not unruly or a bad child.

“Its autism coming out and you can't tell when an autistic child will have an outburst,” he said.

The family says the restaurant could have handled the situation much better.

“If they had carried her chocolate milk she would have quieted down, she always does,” Martin said.

Gail says even if she never gets that apology, she still wants to bring attention to her ordeal.

“We can't just lock them up they have every right to be out in public like everybody else," she said.

Chief Rushton says he knew the child suffered from autism, but thought that she was extremely loud and disrupting to other customers.

Rushton says he is willing to go through training with the South Carolina Autism Society to help better understand the disorder.

We also spoke with restaurant owner, Connie Dean, but she too had no comment.