Unlike a similar case of “food tampering” involving American law enforcement earlier this year — in which an unidentified police officer forgot they took a bite of their McChicken sandwich and then accused employees of chomping on it — an incident at a Mickey D’s in California was reportedly caught on tape.
Tatyana Hargrove, an employee of a Bakersfield McDonald’s, who had recently lost a lawsuit against the city after claiming she was a victim of excessive force and civil rights violations in 2017, was arrested on Friday for allegedly tampering with a uniformed police officer’s meal.
A colleague witnessed Hargrove “rubbing a hamburger bun on the floor and spitting on it before serving it to the officer,” according to KGET . McDonald’s management, “appalled,” reported the event to authorities after reviewing surveillance footage.
“I want to ensure our customers and law enforcement that the behaviour exhibited by the individual involved in this incident does not represent my values nor those of my McDonald’s business,” restaurant owner Jim Abbate said in a statement to Fox News . “When we found out about this disturbing incident, we quickly notified the police. We are cooperating with their investigation and want law enforcement to know they are always welcome at McDonald’s.”
The legal consequences of food tampering — from this summer’s spate of ice cream-licking in pursuit of virality to 2018’s strawberry needle contamination in Australia — vary. In the U.S., the penalty can range from two to 20 years in prison and up to $10,000 in fines, according to Crime Online . Hargrove was charged with mingling a harmful substance with food or drink — a felony — and her bail was set at $10,000.
Copyright Postmedia Network Inc., 2019
