Was it disrespectful, or a simple mistake?

A Marine reservist saw it, and took matters into his own hands.

FOX 10 spoke with the reservist and the restaurant's franchise owner who is a former Marine. He explains how the flag ended up being flown upside down.

"I actually thought it was plain disrespect that someone would raise our own nations flag upside down," said Elias Marzeleno.

Marzeleno, who serves in the military as a reservist in Arizona, said he did a u-turn when his girlfriend pointed out the flag flying upside down outside of a McDonalds near 67th Avenue and Camelback this past Saturday.

"I looked around to see if anything was out of the ordinary," said Marzeleno.

Flying the flag upside down is recognized as a symbol of distress. Marzeleno said once he determined there was no problem, he took matters into his own hands.