I just read the story of the girl arrested for serving a policeman a salty hamburger......?

Question

The girl says she accidently spilled salt on the burger and served it to a policeman, who came back later and said it made him sick....She was arrested and freed on $1000 bail...Would her arrest have happened if she had served it to a civilian customer? And how is this fair???

Answer 1

I saw that article this morning. I am sickened by the abuse of authority this police officer is showing. It's obvious it was an accident and if anyone should be held responsible for "endangering public health," it should be the supervisor who said to go ahead and serve it! But even that's too extreme. It's just a little bit of salt. Or maybe a lot. If I got a burger that was too salty, I'd take it back and say, "Hey, this burger tastes too salty. I'd like to replace it or get my money back." Problem solved.

But since this guy happens to be a cop, well, I guess he feels he can go around arresting whoever he wants for whatever he wants. As I was reading the article, I started thinking about the popcorn in the movie theater. I don't know why, but every time I have movie theater popcorn, I end up throwing up in the parking lot and running a fever. (I don't eat it anymore, by the way.) Does this mean I can now call the cops and have the people at the concessions arrested for "endangering public health"? Of course, I wouldn't do that. I'm not a bully and/or idiot.

Still, this is a complete abuse of authority in my humble opinion. The girl deserves an apology and her money back. They can't give back to her that night she lost while in jail. The cop in question needs to be relieved of duty. Permanently. And given a job at McDonald's. With this girl as his supervisor.

Answer 2

Good point, and probably no. The most that would have happened is the place could have been sued for making the person sick. In the article it says that her supervisor and another employee was told that the salt had been spilled on the meat and they tried to salvage the meat rather then throw it away. If this the case then if they testify in court she'll be alright and get her money back. I personally feel its an abuse of power, but the girl could have intentionally over salted the meat, knowing a cop would receive it. I think arrest is a little extreme, a repremand for firing would have been more appropriate.
In Michigan there was a guy who spit in a cops food at a fast food resteraunt, the cop later brought it back confronted the worker and threatened to have a DNA match done and the person admited to it. I believe the guy got charged with assulting an officer. But that was spit, the offending burger had to much salt in it. Wooptie doo

Answer 3

If I had been served this burger, I would have returned it after the first bite as totally inedible/not fit for human consumption and asked for my money back or, alternatively, something edible. There are consumer laws to protect customers from being fobbed off with defective goods and it should have been a civil rather than a criminal matter. This appears to have been the problem in this little narrative. An ordinary customer would have been happy to have settled matters in that way, but the police are trained to think in criminal terms, with the result that this unfortunate girl is now facing criminal charges for something which appears to have been a human error which could have been sorted out at the time.

Answer 4

In my simle humble opinion based on what was reported, I am thinking that there was no malice involved in this case. She spilled salt on the burger. Big whoop.
All she had to do was throw it away.
Instead she shook the salt off and served it up.
How many times did you get a burger or whatever from one of these places and the food wasn't all that great? Did you gripe about it and get a new one or did you eat it and suffer?
All the officer had to do if he didn't like it was go up to the counter and say, "Hey, my burger is too salty."
Instead he goes in, assumes she did it deliberately and arrests her? That's just dumb and clearly he's throwing his authority around.

Answer 5

An Arrest probably would not have happened if it was a civilian and the spilling of the salt may or may not have been and accident...Who knows.... The point is the spilling of the salt on the meat was known and they served it to a customer anyway. Shame on them...:(

Answer 6

In a Mcdonalds the salt not anywhere near the burger prep area. So how could she accidently serve a salty burger?

Answer 7

Being as I have heard people I know say they knew of fast food workers spitting a hack on the police officer's foods and peeing in the drinks, he probably thought she did this on purpose. My question is, if it was that salty, why did he eat it? I have gotten really salty food from fast food and had the sense not to eat it. I usually support the law enforcement officials, but where is the common sense and logic about this?

Answer 8

I don't know. The cops think that food places are out to get them. Where I live there was a Burger King employee that spit on a cops burger and he got major jail time. Then another Burger King had an employee that put marijuana on the burger's for 2 cops and they got high. Several people there got major jail time. So the police think it's a conspiracy I guess. Maybe they should bring their lunch.

Answer 9

I think this officer is wasting tax payer time and money. He had every right to complain as a consumer but arresting her is a bit too much. Shame on him for arresting her and shame on her for ever serving that burger in the first place

Answer 10

Total power-trip by the cop. Any normal civilian with an ounce of common sense would have returned the food & asked for a refund or replacement. Simple as that. Because this guy has a badge & a gun he thinks he can invent new rules for the world as it revolves adoringly around him. I pity his wife --- that is, IF he found a woman foolish enough to marry him.