Worker charged in glass-in-Big Mac case wins $437K

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP-EXCITE

By JAKE PEARSON

NEW YORK (AP) — A former McDonald's worker acquitted of charges he placed shards of glass into a police officer's Big Mac nearly a decade ago has won a $437,000 settlement from the city after arguing the officer fabricated the story to win money by suing the fast food restaurant.

Albert Garcia was 18 in January 2005 when Officer John Florio accused him of spiking his burger with broken glass. He initially confessed after being questioned by four detectives for hours in a small, windowless room in the Bronx restaurant.

But Garcia, who has an IQ of 81, soon recanted, and his lawyer's investigation revealed enough inconsistencies in the officers' testimonies that the state's highest court unexpectedly decided to hear the assault case this year. The case had been dismissed in 2012, a decision upheld by a lower state appeals court.

Last month, the city agreed to a settlement.

FULL story at link.



Albert Garcia, right, stops for a photo with his attorney Raymond Aab, outside court in New York, Thursday, Nov. 20, 2014. New York City has agreed to pay $437 thousand to the ex-McDonalds worker who was criminally charged nearly a decade ago with slipping shards of glass into a police officer{2019}s Big Mac. Garcia was acquitted at trial after his 2005 arrest and sued the city, claiming the police officer involved manufactured the whole affair and investigating detectives covered for him. (AP Photo/Jake Pearson)

Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20141121/us-glass-in-hamburger-719777cccd.html

[frylock]

1. fuck tha police

[Veilex]

4. I propose a slight modification to your statment:

Fuck bad police

[jtuck004]

6. "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.". And women

Edmund Burke

No difference between the ones doing the evil and those not stopping it. Or between them and the city that pays them to behave that way.

[frylock]

7. thank you

[Scootaloo]

9. +1000

The officers that close ranks and turn blind eyes are no better than the ones causing hte problem.

[Veilex]

14. I love that quote... and this is a good place for it.

I agree. But then, I quantify a "Good cop" as someone who'd work against police brutality and corruption.

[BronxBoy]

2. Wow....

yet another example of why Black and Brown people should have the utmost faith in our criminal justice system.....

[Stryst]

15. Or poor, or queer, or non christian, or disabled...

Basically anyone that isnt a middle or higher class able bodied white straight cis christian.

[closeupready]

3. Glad to see this result. Money can't give him back his privacy, but

it can help assuage the discomfort of both the memory of being wrongfully accused and the notoriety that doubtlessly ensued for him personally.

[secondvariety]

5. It seems

that Officer Fuckstick's extortion attempt just cost the city half a million bucks.

[Dopers_Greed]

12. Why isn't he personally on the hook?

They should seize his assets, garnish his wages, or whatever they have to do to pay the settlement.

[Enrique]

8. now there will be a case against Florio, right?

But despite what Florio told fellow officers, medical records from the ER visit show Florio suffered from no apparent symptoms of swallowing glass, Aab claims in papers. What's more, while Florio said he told his family doctor that he had recovered glass shards in his stools, the doctor testified the conversation never took place, the papers show.

[Ash_F]

10. He fucked up when he thought he could shake down Mc D's /nt

[valerief]

11. No one fucks with McDonald's, not even the over-militarized police. nt

[VScott]

13. This is why I'm skeptical of ANY tampered, contaminated food lawsuits.

Syringes in soda cans, mouse heads in chili, etc.

I'd have to see hard evidence that it was the establishments or companies fault or genuine physical injury
to the person (emotional stress just doesn't cut it), in order for me to find in favor of the plaintiff.