NY Couple Uses DNA Test to Prove Waiter Spit in Their Drinks

Chili's customer Ken Yerdon tasted something odd in his drink. Yerdon had his suspicions that his waiter had somehow spiked his drink and he'd go so far as to enlist the help of police crime lab to prove it.

Ken and his wife Julie had been dining earlier at a Chili's restaurant in the Syracuse suburb of Clay, NY. The Syracuse Post Standard reports that things began getting tense between the Yerdons and their waiter that particular evening when the couple complained about undercooked food and incomplete orders, The couple says that their waiter Gregory Lamica became visibly annoyed with them. The confusion continued when the Yerdon's reportedly requested their drinks be placed in to-go containers. Lamica was said to have begrudgingly obliged, but refused to make eye contact with the customers.

On the their home, Mr. Yerdon took several sips of his soda when he tasted something that didn't seem right. Yerdon told the Syracuse Post Standard that he saw spit in the cup. Yerdon says it was a loogie. The couple took a picture of the snotty mass and then complained to the restaurant's managers. While they were able to get a refund and Chili's coupons, they weren't able to an admission of guilt or an apology.

This is when the couple actually went to New York State police. The NY Daily News says that a NYS trooper took a swab of saliva from Lamica. The results took three months to compile, but once they were complete, the Yerdons got the proof they were looking for. Lamica’s spit was in the drink. Lamica eventually fessed up upon being brought a police station to see the DNA results. He was fined $125 after pleading guilty to disorderly conduct.in February.

Now the Yerdons are reportedly planning to sue both Lamica and the owners of Chili's, according to the Syracuse Post Standard. They want compensation for the psychological trauma they endured not knowing whether Yerdon had contracted HIV or hepatitis. Marissa Rice, director of youth services at ACR Health in Syracuse, says that HIV can not be transmitted through saliva.