A Homeless Man Is Suing After Being Wrongfully Accused of Using Fake Money at Burger King

Your comparisons are epic fail. In each case you have people clearly abusing the system. An incident where someone behaves in good faith when they call the police is not abusing the system.

 

which has nothing to do with how does he know whay happened.

 

So it gets down to your assumption a business can determine if every bill is a fake or not therefore they should do so therefore this guy has a lawsuit?

 

This is all a BS claim generated by a shyster looking to shakedown Burger King. Do you really believe the police would arrest someone for counterfeit money without using some test to determine the money was in fact counterfeit. As you have no doubt witnessed many times clerks often test money using a pen that contains iodine. Real money will not react to this pen. No doubt the cops would do the same. To arrest someone there has to be evidence of a crime. This evidence has to be presented to a magistrate. In other words some evidence would have to be presented indicating the $10 bill in question was fake. Why the police thought the $10 was fake is not reported. Therefore, what is fake in this story is the narrative reported by the fake news. If the lawsuit had merit it would be filed against the police and government. The reason it is filed against Burger King is they will quickly submit to the shakedown to prevent brand damage.

And notice how the fake news will not tell us why this man was on probation.

 

The restaurant owe this man an apology and his order, the police owe him compensation over the whole wrongful arrest thing.
Burger King phoned the police when a crime was committed, and that's legal.

 

So the message here is become a millionaire by making yourself look disheveled. Only in America.

 

There is no liability of the company. It was the police that decided there was probable cause to believe the bill was counterfeit, the police who decided to arrest him, the district attorney who decided to charge him with probation violation, and a judge that required he be held. The company neither caused nor is responsible for any of that.

I can think of no more chilling factor on people not taking the law into their own hands while being able to ask for police intervention and analysis in any situation they believe a crime is about to be committed, is being committed or has been committed. Simply put, there is no basis for any lawsuit merely based upon someone called the police.

There could be serious consequences, however, of DELIBERATELY giving police a false state while doing so - such as the crime of "SWATTING" someone that should be at least a 2nd degree felony and 1st degree felony if anyone is physically injured by it.

 

and not being white.

 

It's obvious that the homeless black guy was a victim of the fascist police State and that he was oppressed because of his race and/or homeless status. An idiot could have quickly examined the money at the police station and verified if it was legitimate or counterfeit. And in case the cops lacked an idiot to do that simple task the dummies could have called a Tresaury agent over to do the examination.

The incident shows what a crappy criminal justice system exists in some backwaters of the country. The judge should have reamed the cops a new ******* for their gross and capricious abuse of power.

 

Noting that this incident occurred in 'backwater' Boston, Massachusetts, one of the most Liberal States and most Liberal cities in the U.S. raises the question of "could this have been staged for political purpose?"

"In order to organize, you must first polarize."

How widely was the story of Fredrick Demond Scott reported by the media?

 

Boston, and Massachusetts, are very racist and oppressive. As shown by the article the thug cops will use any excuse to imprison a black guy.

 

The employee told the guy that his bill was counterfeit and refused to give change or give it back. That isn't how a cashier is supposed to handle this. He basically confiscated the guy's money.

 

A citizenry of Democrats policed by Republicans?

 

I'm sorry. I'm not a racist so that sort of thing doesn't occur to me.

 

Ummm. Ok.

Given what appears to be glaring gaps in relative information in the story, I'm sure your objective opinion is the only explanation.

 

Thats the proper procedure

After that the police arrived and took it from there

It is official US government policy that if you see something say something

 

Exactly

 

Speaking of feelings..........

"Now the fact that this man's race baiting attorney isn't going after the police suggests he probably knows there was no wrong-doing on their part and so he's left with attacking a private company because the current climate suggests a settlement would be an easy get.

The attorney (and probably the man himself) sees a pay day by playing a race card by fabricating a victimization that is supported by ...nothing."

 

The attorney is racist. What about a black man in a suit? An Asian? Ellis was homeless, no doubt looked and smelled like it and, as with most homeless, likely acting "funny".

Although the bill turned out to be real, for some reason the minimum wage cashier suspected it was fake. I don't know why and the link doesn't say why. The police obviously thought so too otherwise they wouldn't have bothered taking the parolee in to the station.....which is why Ellis spent 3 months in jail - he was on parole.

The cashier called the police because she suspected the money was counterfeit. After that, it was out of her hands. Ellis doesn't have a case, but I suspect Burger King will throw some money at him to put this behind them. His lawyer will get over half of the settlement and probably go buy herself a nice Beemer. Ellis will likely use it for drugs and end up back on the street in a year.

 

Correct that BK is responsible for its employees. What do you think the employee did that was illegal? Call the police because she thought Ellis was passing counterfeit money?

 

Perhaps both should.

Burger King needs to be held responsible because the cashier should have been able to check the bill. Every retail business I've worked for trains cashier to check fkr counterfeit money and they typically have a pen that is used to test the paper of a bill to help make a determination.

Bad business on Burger King's part, leading to damages.

No, but there is a nexus between the employee's action and the man being arrested.

It SHOULD bear SOME responsibility.

 

Making a false report to police is a crime and thus the man likely has a strong case for civil action against Burger King.

It seems either the employee simply didn't bother to check the bill or didn't care if it was real or not.

Either way, bad business practice.

 

How do you know she didn't check it? Obviously both the cashier and the police thought it was counterfeit. It took the Secret Service to determine it wasn't.

Should the homeless ex-criminal "bear SOME responsibility" for being an ex-criminal and homeless?

 

Correct, but this wasn't a false report. The police also had a chance to look at the $10 to determine if it was fake. Since the bill was real, I suspect it may have been so old that it didn't have the thread, watermark or other identifying features which would cause both the cashier and the police to think it was fake.

Prove the cashier and police didn't check the bill. None of the online reports indicate they didn't nor was that in the complaint.

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4465941-Ellis-Complaint.html

Additionally, as the below link notes, counterfeiters frequently use junkies and homeless people to pass counterfeit bills: https://www.businessknowhow.com/security/counterfeitmoney.htm
Some counterfeiters use junkies and street people to spread phony $10 and $20 bills to a wide bunch of business establishments. The business owners don’t take notice of the junkies or the bills because the purchases and the bills are so small,” the detective explained. “The crooks that pass the $50 and the $100 bills tend to be more professional. They are confident and legitimate-looking, so business owners readily accept the phony bills without becoming suspicious.”

The detective said business owners should train their employees to examine all bills they receive, $10 and higher. If they believe are given a phony bill, call the police.

Small business owners need to be aware of the many ways to detect counterfeit money. The Secret Service offers the below methods to detect counterfeit bills:

• Hold a bill up to a light and look for a holograph of the face image on the bill. Both images should match. If the $100 bill has been bleached, the hologram will display an image of Abraham Lincoln, who appears on the $5 bills, instead of Benjamin Franklin.
• Looking at the bill through a light will also reveal a thin vertical strip containing text that spells out the bill’s denomination.

I’d also like to pass on some tips from the U.S. Treasury:

• Color-shifting ink: If you hold the new series bill (except the $5 note) and tilt it back and forth, please observe the numeral in the lower right hand corner as its color shifts from green to black and back.
• Watermark: Hold the bill up to a light to view the watermark in an unprinted space to the right of the portrait. The watermark can be seen from both sides of the bill since it is not printed on the bill but is imbedded in the paper.
• Security Thread: Hold he bill a light to view the security thread. You will see a thin imbedded strip running from top to bottom on the face of a banknote. In the $10 and $50 the security strip is located to the right of the portrait, and in the $5, $20 and $100, it is located just to the left of the portrait.
• Ultraviolet Glow: If the bill is held up to an ultraviolet light, the $5 bill glows blue; the $10 bill glows orange, the $20 bill glows green, the $50 bill glows yellow, and the $100 bill glows red – if they are authentic!
• Microprinting: There are minute microprinting on the security threads: the $5 bill has “USA FIVE” written on the thread; the $10 bill has “USA TEN” written on the thread; the $20 bill has “USA TWENTY” written on the thread; the $50 bill has “USA 50” written on the thread; and the $100 bill has the words “USA 100” written on the security thread. Microprinting can be found around the portrait as well as on the security threads.
• Fine Line Printing Patterns: Very fine lines have been added behind the portrait and on the reverse side scene to make it harder to reproduce.
• Comparison: Compare the feel and texture of the paper with other bills you know are authentic.

If you believe you have received a counterfeit bill, the U.S. Treasury advises you to do the following:

• Do not put yourself in danger.
• Do not return the bill to the passer.
• Delay the passer with some excuse, if possible.
• Observe the passer’s description – and their companions’ descriptions – and write down their vehicle license plate numbers if you can.
• Contact your local police department or call your local Secret Service office.
• Write your initials and date in the white border area of the suspected counterfeit note.
• Do not handle the counterfeit note. Place it inside a protective cover, a plastic bag, or envelope to protect it until you place it in the hands of an identified Secret Service Special Agent. You can also mail it to your nearest Secret Service office.

Remember, if you are passed a counterfeit bill, you own it. So when accepting cash, it pays to be knowledgeable about the crime of counterfeiting.

 

I don't. I don't KNOW anything about the story, because I don't have personal knowledge of the facts of the matter. I can either choose to BELIEVE what I see and hear in corporate news media or not.

It's not obvious to me, because I don't KNOW any of that to be a fact. I'm skeptical about that, because the counterfeit detector pens used by retailers (I'm sure Burger King uses them) will work on REAL money, but not leave a mark. It WILL mark a counterfeit bill, unless that bill was printed on a fiber based paper similar to that which is used to make real bills, which is highly uncommon.

I find it REALLY hard to believe that the cashier and cops thought it was fake. It would have passed the pen test.

There's NO WAY the other security features were so off that anyone would have thought it was fake.

Does he have a choice?

Should he NOT be considered INNOCENT until PROVEN guilty?