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Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Employees of the Month

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. (CN) - Suspecting a man of loitering, convenience store workers chased him into a restroom and forced him to eat vomit they found on the floor there, the man claims in court.

Kennis Crumpler sued The Pantry in Cumberland County Court. He says he was an "invitee" of the store during the revolting events.

"On the morning of March 24, 2011 at approximately 3:00 a.m. plaintiff was on the premises of the defendant's store," the complaint states.

It continues: "That at the time and place described above the defendant had an agent and employee in charge of its premises and business of the Kangaroo Store.

"That the defendant had assigned its agent and employee with certain duties to be conducted on behalf of the defendant to include, but not limited to: discouraging vagrancy and loitering on its business premises; and maintaining the business premises in such a manner as to promote the safety and security of the members of the public who frequented the defendant's business.

"That at the time and place described above, the defendant, through its agent and employee perceived the plaintiff to be loitering on its premises and the defendant did, through its agent and employee, threaten the plaintiff with bodily injury causing the plaintiff to seek safety in the men's toilet located on the premises.

"That the defendant's agent and employee enlisted another person to assist him in removing the plaintiff from the business premises. That individual thereby became an agent of the defendant and the defendant through its employee had the defendant's new agent and its employee pursued the plaintiff into the men's room on the premises.

"That upon entering the men's room the defendant's employee saw that someone had vomited in the men's room.

"That the new agent was acting under the supervisor who had the responsibility of appropriately supervising the individual who was acting as an agent of the defendant at the specific request of defendant's supervising employee. Defendant's employee negligently supervised the new agent who means of physical violence to the person of the plaintiff forced and coerced him under threat of serious injury to eat the vomit left in the men's room.

"Defendant's employee had a duty to intervene in order to protect the plaintiff from injury. Instead he negligently stood by and took no steps to intervene or to prevent injury to the plaintiff while on defendant's premises and to properly supervise the individual whom he had enlisted as defendant agent.

"That the negligent actions of the defendant were the direct and proximate cause of injury to the plaintiff to include great humiliation, sickness, exposure to disease and great emotional distress."

Crumpler adds, plausibly, that the incident caused him "severe mental injury, great emotional distress and psychological trauma."

He seeks more than $10,000 in damages, costs and attorney's fees.

He is represented by Coy Brewer Jr. and Chuk Umerah, neither of whom returned calls from Courthouse News.

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