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A police officer from Sidney and his family won $40,000 from a restaurant that served them food tainted with an employee’s spit and urine. Officer Keith Andrew and his wife said in the lawsuit that a Taco Bell employee urinated and spit in food served to them and their children in October 2005. The owner of the restaurant is North Platte’s Mid-Plains Food and Lodging, not affiliated with the North Platte KFC. The jury sided with the Andrews July 11. In the lawsuit, the couple said their two sons, 4 and 7 at the time, became ill after they ate the food ordered in the restaurant. The 4-year-old became violently ill" according to the lawsuit, and that he vomited for hours. He was diagnosed with gastroenteritis and dehydration. Other workers witnessed employee Casey Diedrich. taint the food, according to the lawsuit, and they reported his actions to the managers but the managers did not inform the family, the lawsuit said. They also did not immediately discipline Diedrich. The lawsuit suggested the Diedrich’s actions were a scheme that targeted police officers. "Employees maintained 'special servings' of food reserved for ... officers," the lawsuit said. "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 employee admitted tainting other officers’ food. In March 2007, Diedrich pleaded guilty to violating the Nebraska Pure Food Act for tainting the Andrews food and was fined $100, according to court records. Diedrich was eventually fired for missing work but not for any of the incidents the lawsuit cited.
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