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A 20-year-old food service worker who was caught on video spitting on customers' pizzas at Comerica Park has been arrested and charged with a felony count and a misdemeanor count of food law violations.
- A video of a 20-year-old food service worker spitting on a pizza before serving it to customers at Comerica Park in Detroit went viral Saturday.
- Detroit Sportservice, the company responsible for the vendor in question, "immediately closed that food stand and disposed of all the product" after hearing about the incident.
- The employee was fired and arrested on charges of food law violations.
One of the best parts about seeing a baseball game in-person is feasting on ballpark food.
But next time you find yourself watching the Detroit Tigers play at home, you may want to think twice about ordering the pizza.
A video surfaced on Instagram Saturday showing 20-year-old food service employee Jaylon Kerley spitting on a pizza intended for customers at Comerica Park for the Tigers' game against the Kansas City Royals Friday night. Kerley has since been arrested and charged with a felony count of food law violations and a misdemeanor count of food law violations. The felony charge could lead to a prison sentence of up to four years.
"Given the unique nature of the charges and the seriousness of the allegations, particularly as it relates to the public health... Mr. Kerley must make himself available or be subject to mandatory testing for infectious diseases, including a Hepatitis panel," the judge said at Kerley's arraignment Tuesday.
Fellow employee Quinnel May, who took the video of Kerley, told WDIV that Kerley "was angry because the supervisor kept yelling at him."
According to May, he tried to report the incident to his higher-ups, but instead, he was ordered to leave the stadium and threatened with prosecution if he didn't remove the post from Instagram.
"Every time I tried to talk, they told me to shut up," May told WXYZ.
Detroit Sportservice, the company responsible for the vendor in question, released a statement to WXYZ in response to the incident:
"As soon as we became aware through social media of potential food tampering Friday night, we immediately closed that food stand and disposed of all the product," the company said. "Food safety is our top priority and we will take any appropriate action necessary to protect our guests."
May said that the company's actions came too late and that Kerley had engaged in similar behavior in the past.
May's Instagram post has since been deleted, but his original caption can be found below:
I was sent home early today because I didn't have on my Comerica Park shirt and they say I was at the bathroom for too long. So they yelled at me and told me to go home. But since they made me go home early I couldn't wait until after the game to tell them an employee was spitting in customer pizzas!!! 🤮🤮🤮#detroittigers @worldstar #worldstar #detroit f @theshaderoom The customers don't deserve this!! This is disgusting! And for the company to threaten me and let me go for exposing this video to the fans is also disgusting!!😡
Check out the full video below: