The Associated Press
[Related P-1 article: Dining out more safely]
McMINNVILLE, Tenn.- A police officer has filed a lawsuit against the Waffle House restaurant chain and one of its former cooks, claiming the cook admitted to spitting in the officer’s food.
Police Lt. John Morgan accused 19-year-old Homer Disher in the lawsuit of spitting in his order of hash browns and eggs before serving them to him last September.
“He had his back slightly to me, and I saw the spit hit the food,” Morgan said. “I was furious.”
The lawsuit seeks $82,500. In court papers, Morgan said Disher told his manager what he had done and the manager did nothing to warn Morgan or report the incident to police.
Morgan said he brought an investigating officer to the restaurant and that Disher admitted to spitting in his food and gave a recorded video statement to the officers.
Morgan said he thought Disher was upset over a warning he gave Disher and a friend during a traffic stop a few weeks before the incident.
Phone numbers for Disher and the manager on duty that day could not be found in listings. Calls to Waffle House headquarters in Norcross, Ga., were not immediately returned Sunday.
Disher has been charged with adulteration of food and retaliation for past actions, both felonies. If convicted, he could face up to eight years in prison, the Southern Standard newspaper reported.