18-year-old Albert Garcia, Jr. of the Bronx has a “general distaste” for police officers–so, with other McDonald’s employees watching, he put glass in Officer John Florio’s Big Mac; Florio broke a tooth and cut his mouth and throat. Garcia was caught in a sting when an undercover police officer saw him spitting on another cop’s drive-through order, confessed, and is facing assault charges.
Now Florio is suing. One suspects that McDonald’s is willing to pay Florio’s medical expenses (the press doesn’t say one way or the other) as they should, but Florio, through his lawyer Richard Kenny, wants $6 million ($1 million in “compensatory” damages) from the national chain for failure to supervise Garcia properly. Because, after all, no other fast-food chain has teenage employees who adulterate food, perhaps because of the sophisticated two-key systems (much like those used for nuclear missiles) before employees are allowed to make a sandwich. (Alison Gendar, “Hurt cop sues McD’s for $6M”, NY Daily News, Feb. 8; Denise Buffa and Marsha Krane, “Glass-Burger Cop Sues”, NY Post, Feb. 8; Erin Calabrese and Dan Mangan, “Big Mac Attack vs. Cop”, NY Post, Jan. 31). The complaint suggests that McDonald’s should’ve fired Garcia sooner because of “aberrant behavior”, but, once again, firing someone risks an employment lawsuit.
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