A police officer and his family from Sydney, Nebraska have been awarded $40,000 from their lawsuit which alleged that a KFC/Taco Bell store had served them food contaminated with an employee’s spit and urine in 2005. The lawsuit stated that fellow workers actually saw the employee taint the food and told management who failed to alert the family, according to the AP. Consequently, the officer’s two sons became violently ill. His 4-year-old was hospitalized and treated for gastroenteritis and dehydration. Details, inside…
The article says,
A KFC spokesman, Rick Maynard, said KFC is committed to the highest levels of food safety.
“Our franchisee does not agree with the court’s verdict, and they are looking at their legal options,” Maynard said Monday.
The suit also alleged that Andrew, his wife and their children were victims of an employee scheme that targeted police officers.
“Employees maintained ‘special servings’ of food reserved for … officers,” the lawsuit said. “The ‘special servings’ had been urinated in or spit in by KFC/Taco Bell employees.”
The employee accused of urinating and spitting in the Andrew family’s food, Casey Diedrich, pleaded guilty last year to violating the Nebraska Pure Food Act and fined $100, according to court records. The prosecution was for the same incident described in the lawsuit.
A company spokesman said last year that Diedrich eventually was fired for missing work but not for any of the incidents the lawsuit cited.
What’s even more shocking than the food contamination itself is that the management did nothing to prevent the family from consuming the tainted food. We can understand how the concept of CYA (cover your ass) may have been a factor, but when information has been brought to your attention that directly impacts the safety of your customers, as a restaurant manager, the only reasonable action is prevent anyone from consuming that food. Now, I’m starting to wonder about all the times that KFC has left me feeling nauseous–I better not.
Neb. cop, family win $40K over urine-tainted food [AP]
(Photo:Scott Ableman)
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@edro: What about in Kentucky?
Did this happen to any other customers (i.e. civilians), or just this one family?
How sick! I guess TacoBell and KFC is off of my list of places to eat.. $40k is not enough! The family should get more. I am glad that Illinois allow punitive damages.. The charges against him should have been asult… The jerk got off. I am sure he is on the local police department special list.
@bbagdan: Wow, I’m suprised it took this long for the cop haters to pipe up.
“If urine and spit caused immediate violent illness, I don’t think people would be able to have sex.”
OK…
1) maybe sex with the worker wouold have caused immiate and violent illness
2) I think I could have sex just fine without “urine and spit”, thnk you.
@cashmerewhore:
I think the article mentioned that the employees at the place had a “special” stash just for cops that come in and want food. To me, that means the food has been prepared far in advance and possibly hidden under a table or something and only brought out when an employee sees a cop. So, although urine is pretty sterile and it’s unlikely that you’d get ill from someone’s spit, if it’s been festering in a rat-infested kitchen for more than an hour, you’re probably not going to be feeling too great afterwards.
Gross. Totally uncalled for by the employee… it’s not like the officer was trying to order a “liter of cola” or something like that.
@chrisjames: I don’t know if punitive damages are allowed in Kentucky, I’m from Nebraska (the other side of the state from Sydney, Nebraska). Perhaps there is a lawyer on here from Kentucky who would know the answer.
It would be wonderfully poetic if Casey Diedrich were found dead in an alley, fatally sodomized with nightstick.
@lingum:
An update on Casey, he lives with a girlfriend who is currently married, he’s legally married right now (divorce is filed) and still has no job to this day.
He drinks, hes addicted to pot/meth and does nothing but play PS2 all day.
I read from an article linked from reddit the other day that these employees kept a container of contaminated food set aside for cops/people they wanted to get back at.
Also…. just wanted to note. If I were police officer…. I would NOT eat at any place staffed by mostly teens. A lot of teens hate cops & a lot of cops target teens on purpose.
@edro: Fuck Nebraska. It sounds like a back ass state that should be dropped off the country. $100 fines for this type of transgression, no punitive damages and a douche like Chuck Hagel… I will never go to that state…
@satoru: $40K for this is pretty generous – even with the attorney’s usual 1/3 cut.
Then again, the employees of those restaurants have made themselves into honorary black people for the rest of their lives with all the profilin’ the Sidney PD will do to them.
(Went to Arby’s in Sidney once…)