Suit Alleges Contaminated Food Served to Cop's, Family

Lincoln Nebraska (AP) — Members of a Sidney, Neb., family say a fast-food dinner they were served contained far more than what they ordered.

In a lawsuit filed Thursday in Cheyenne County District Court, Sidney Police Officer Keith Andrew and his wife allege that a Taco Bell employee urinated and spit in food served to their family. The complaint was filed against North Platte-based Mid Plains Food and Lodging, owner of the KFC/Taco Bell.

A company spokesman, Jeff Moore, said the company has not seen the lawsuit so could not immediately comment.The lawsuit says the couple's 4-year-old son became "violently ill" with gastroenteritis and dehydration the day he ate the food, vomited for hours and was forced to spend time in the hospital. Another son, 7 years old at the time, also became ill, the lawsuit says.

Managers of the restaurant were aware of the contamination at the time the Andrew family was eating but didn't inform the family, according to the lawsuit filed by Scottsbluff-based attorney Maren Chaloupka. The lawsuit suggests that the family was the victim of a scheme that targeted police officers.

"Employees maintained 'special servings' of food reserved for . . . officers," the lawsuit says. "The 'special servings' had been urinated in or spit in by KFC/Taco Bell employees. In fact, defendant's employees maintained a particular serving pan for use in creating 'special servings' of food plus employee urine."

The lawsuit says management was well-aware of the scheme aimed at officers before the incident with the Andrew family, "but did nothing that could be reasonably calculated to protect its customers from this practice."

The employee accused of urinating and spitting in the Andrew family's food, Casey Diedrich, could not be reached for comment. In March of this year, Diedrich pleaded guilty to violating the Nebraska Pure Food Act and fined $100, according to Cheyenne County Court records. The prosecution was for the same incident described in the lawsuit, according to Chaloupka.

Other workers saw what Diedrich did, the lawsuit says, and reported it to management.

But despite knowing that Diedrich contaminated the food, management did not discipline him, and he was allowed to work at the restaurant for at least two more months without special supervision, the lawsuit alleges.