Bond reduced in Waffle House spitting incident
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The suspect, Homer Disher, 18, remained confined at Warren County Jail late Thursday afternoon despite the massive reduction in bond.
He is being held on felony charges of adulteration of food, which carries three to six years in prison, and retaliation for past actions, which carries one to two years, for allegedly spitting in the hashbrowns served to McMinnville Police Lt. John Morgan Monday morning at the local Waffle House. Should he make bond, one of the conditions of his release will involve being barred from working in food service pending his trial.
Disher reportedly confessed to the spitting, saying he was mad at Morgan for pulling him over the week before. It was later learned Morgan did not write him a citation during the stop. Disher was charged after Morgan reportedly saw him spit in the food before handing him the box and telling him to “enjoy this.” Disher would later apologize and offer to buy Morgan’s food.
While arrested in the pre-dawn hours Monday morning, the amount of Disher’s bond became an issue as John Partin of the law firm of Galligan & Newman appeared before the court Thursday, saying $90,000 bond was excessive for a person accused of spitting in food. The court agreed and dropped the bond to $5,000.
While the bond was dropped, District Attorney General Dale Potter said his office plans to go ahead with pushing the felony charges against Disher.
“This is an important issue in that when it comes to restaurants, there are several places where people who have been arrested and convicted are working in either cooking or serving food to customers,” Potter said.
“This creates a big problem with law enforcement officers as some people may try to get revenge by doing something to their food,” Potter continued. “It’s a much bigger issue than people realize.”
Potter also said it is a public safety issue since lawmen who encounter arrestees and convicted persons are not the only people endangered.
“What about customers who complain about the service or the food at restaurants? There needs to be a message that adulteration of food isn’t just a minor thing,” Potter said.
As for the charges themselves, Potter said adulteration of food does not just cover poisoning but instead includes any action which could endanger the diner. In the case of the officer, Potter said Morgan became ill by the mere thought of ingesting the food. Morgan did not eat any of the tainted smothered, covered and chunked hashbrowns.
In the case of the retaliation charge, prosecutors must prove the suspect took actions to endanger or injure the lawman based on the performance of his duties. The law was set by the state to protect lawmen, judges, prosecutors and jurors from being targeted for performing their sworn duties.