Worker charged in glass-in-Big Mac case wins $437K [View all]

[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)

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