The McNeedle and McStapleclip. Only available in W. New York, NJ apparently. Enjoy with caution.
AKA, some people will stoop to anything to win the litigation lottery.
http://www.bergen.com/page.php?qstr=...Y3dnFlZUVFeXkz
Needle-laden sandwich injured diner, suit says
Thursday, January 13, 2005
By KIBRET MARKOS
STAFF WRITER
On her 38th birthday, Beatriz Bermeo went to a McDonald's restaurant in West New York, ordered a crispy chicken sandwich, and took a bite.
The sandwich bit back, she said.
Bermeo said she felt a stinging pain in her throat and began frantically pointing into her mouth when her voice failed her.
Thinking she was choking, her husband, Beethoven, tried the Heimlich maneuver on her. But she was still in distress, court papers say, so he opened her mouth, found two inch-long sewing needles inside, and pulled them out. Doctors later removed three more needles from the woman's stomach, the couple's lawyer said.
In a lawsuit filed Wednesday in state Superior Court in Hackensack, the Bermeos are seeking an unspecified amount from McDonald's in compensatory and punitive damages.
"I have seen hair in food. I have seen worms in spaghetti sauce," said the Bermeos' lawyer, Rosemarie Arnold. "I have never seen sewing needles in a chicken sandwich."
Jossiel Rodriguez, general manager of the McDonald's on Bergenline Avenue, declined to comment Wednesday. He referred all questions to his superiors, who did not return two telephone calls.
Along with her sister, her husband and her 2-year-old son, Fernando, Beatriz Bermeo had gone to a Mass to commemorate the first anniversary of her mother's death on Dec. 29, the same day as her birthday, she said.
The family then went to a McDonald's so that Fernando could play in the restaurant's indoor playground, her husband said. But the playground was closed, and the family sat down for a meal.
Halfway into her sandwich, she found out that there was more than just chicken in her meal, Beethoven Bermeo said.
"She was crying," he said of his wife. "I started screaming, 'Help! Call police!'Ÿ"
West New York police came to the scene and took Beatriz Bermeo to Palisades Medical Center in North Bergen, according to a Dec. 29 police report.
She stayed there for three days as doctors suctioned her stomach and removed more needles.
"I still have pain in my throat and chest," Beatriz Bermeo said. "I am very afraid."
Similar to product liability, selling food that is adulterated or otherwise harmful results in strict sanctions under state law. Unlike in most other liability cases, plaintiffs in such lawsuits need not prove negligence to show that the food-server is liable.
Arnold, however, argues in the lawsuit that McDonald's employees served the needle-laden sandwich purposely and intentionally.
"It seems to me that sewing needles don't get into sandwiches accidentally," she said. "Common sense would dictate that the needles were placed intentionally in the product."
__________________________________________________ _____________
'Copycat' charged in McD's scheme Cops say man placed objects in sandwich, then claimed injury
Thursday, January 20, 2005By Michaelangelo Conte
Journal staff writer
http://www.nj.com/news/jjournal/index.ssf?/base/news-0/110621591473120.xml
WEST NEW YORK - A Cliffside Park man has been charged with cutting his own mouth with a razor and stuffing his McDonald's chicken sandwich with staples and a paper clip in an apparent copycat attempt to cash in with a lawsuit against the company, officials said.
The incident follows a lawsuit filed earlier this month by Beatriz Bermeo of North Bergen against the same Bergenline Avenue McDonald's, in which she claims she ingested five needles that were inside her chicken sandwich.
At about 2 p.m. Tuesday, West New York police arrested Jose Rodriguez, 48, and charged him with supplying a false report to law enforcement and tampering with or fabricating evidence, Capt. Robert Antolos said.
Police responding to a call of someone biting into a sandwich containing a sharp object arrived at the McDonald's to find Rodriguez bleeding from the mouth, Antolos said.
Rodriguez had created a scene in the restaurant, showing other customers and police the sandwich, which had staples and a paper clip protruding from it, Antolos said.
Rodriguez was taken to Palisade Medical Center while police began an investigation in which "evidence was recovered at the scene indicating that this new incident was nothing but a scam," Antolos said.
The investigation revealed that Rodriguez ordered a chicken sandwich and took it into the restroom, where he bit into it and spit the portion out into the garbage, Antolos said.
He then placed a row of staples and a bent paper clip into the middle of the sandwich and rewrapped it, Antolos said.
Finally, he took out a razor blade and used it to cut the inside of his mouth before discarding the blade in the garbage, Antolos said.
Rodriguez then walked back into the restaurant, sat down at a table and faked biting the sandwich before pretending to have been cut, Antolos said.
Armed with the evidence, police visited Rodriguez at the hospital and gave him another chance to say what happened, but he gave them the same story, Antolos said.
They then showed him the evidence against him and he admitted he had fabricated the story, Antolos said.
Rodriguez was arrested and his fingerprints and mug shot were taken in the hospital before he was released on his own recognizance to receive treatment for the cut in his mouth, which was serious enough to require stitches, Antolos said.
He said the investigation leading to Rodriguez's arrest used procedures put in place at the restaurant in consultation with police in the aftermath of the Bermeo incident.
Antolos would not comment on whether video security cameras were employed. The case against Rodriguez is to be presented to a grand jury.
Bermeo's lawsuit alleges that on Dec. 29 she was in the restaurant when she bit into a sandwich and pain shot through her, said her attorney, Rosemarie Arnold of Fort Lee.
Bermeo clutched at her throat, thinking she was choking, and her husband opened her mouth, saw two needles stuck in her, and pulled them out, Arnold said.
Bermeo was taken to Palisades Medical Center, where three more needles were surgically removed from her digestive tract, Arnold said, adding that Bermeo spent three days in the hospital before her release. She is suing McDonald's for an unspecified sum, Arnold said.
A criminal investigation is actively being pursued into all aspects of the Bermeo incident, Antolos said yesterday. Antolos credited Detectives Ed Monty, Ray Hernandez and Victor Martinez for the teamwork that led to a quick determination of what happened on Tuesday.
"Hopefully this will stem any copycat crimes," Antolos said.




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