LOS ANGELES, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- Two owners of a Subway sandwich restaurant in the state of Utah filed a lawsuit in a federal court in Salt Lake City, accusing Layton city Police Department of violating civil right over a case in 2016, in which a policeman falsely claimed he was poisoned by the chain restaurant.
According to the indictment sent to Xinhua via email Wednesday, local Subway owners Dallas Buttars and Kristin Myers, along with their attorney Robert Sykes, claimed their business and employees lost about 300,000 U.S. dollars due to false information being released to the media by the officer and the city government.
On Aug. 8, 2016, a Layton police officer, who has never been publicly identified, went to the drive-thru at the restaurant, 40 kilometers north to the Salt Lake City. The officer claimed being intoxicated shortly after taking a sip of his soda.
A 18-year-old employee, who served the drink and was referred by the lawyer as "TU" was arrested a short time later. Moreover the young man quickly became a target of scathing ridicule on social media from people across the nation, and received numerous threats.
Six employees of the shop, including a manager, eventually quit after being "grilled" by police detectives, the lawsuit contends, saying "at least one Subway employee was confronted in the parking lot and harassed and questioned about his activities and lifestyle" by a Layton police detective.
However, investigation of the case turned up nothing, as the crew did not found any poison materials in "TU"'s home and test results from the Utah State Crime showed no evidence of any drugs in the drink.
In October of 2016, Layton police announced that "TU" was cleared of any wrongdoing and would not be charged, but the Subway owners argued the city didn't take steps to correct the misinformation, so that longtime customers still believed the owners "ran a shoddy operation that hired people who would poison the drink of an officer," and stopped coming.
"This last year has been the worst year of my life here," Myers told local Desert News newspaper, while the report said Layton City Attorney Gary Crane replied Wednesday that he had just received a copy of the lawsuit and had not had the chance to read through it yet.
"it's absolutely abuse power," Rachel Sykes, lawyer working for attorney Robert Sykes told Xinhua Wednesday, adding that it is unacceptable for a police department and its spokesperson to publicly accuse a citizen and a business without any evidence.
