A black truck driver from Cleveland has filed a federal discrimination lawsuit against a Burger King in McKean Township, claiming a worker there spat on his food in November 2008.
The plaintiff, Glenn Goodwin, also claims that another employee at the Burger King, 6360 Sterrettania Road, tried to block Goodwin’s view so he could not see the employee spit on the food.
The two employees were white, said Erie lawyer Timothy McNair, who is helping represent Goodwin. He referred questions to Goodwin’s lead lawyer, Jeff Yelsky, of Cleveland, who could not be reached for comment.
The lawsuit identifies the employees only as “John Doe No. 1” and “John Doe No. 2.” The suit claims John Doe No. 1 was the manager, and that he “purposely” blocked Goodwin’s view while John Doe No. 2, an employee, spit on the food, the type of which the suit does not identify.
The Burger King is north of Interstate 90, and the suit claims the incident occurred Nov. 11, 2008. The McKean Township Burger King has a Fairview mailing address.
The local Burger King office said no one was available to comment on the suit, filed Monday in federal court in Erie.
The suit claims Goodwin saw the employee appear to spit on his food, but did not believe anyone would actually do so. The suit said Goodwin bought the food and returned to his truck to eat.
“He immediately detected something grotesque,” the suit claims.
The suit said Goodwin found human saliva in the food and called police, and that an investigation showed human saliva in the food.
The suit does not state whether police filed charges, and a state police spokesman could not be reached for comment.
The suit also names as defendants the Burger King Corp., in Miami, Fla., and John Doe No. 1 and John Doe No. 2.
