Colorado police have found “no evidence” that Taco Bell employees were responsible for rat poison present in a burrito consumed by a customer who became violently sick.
The person was hospitalized Sunday after consuming the take-out order from the fast food restaurant’s Aurora location and the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office later said the burrito was laced with the poison.
Enough rat poison was found that “it will have been very serious to our victim’s health,” Deputy John Bartmann said on Wednesday, and classified the case as “criminal attempt homicide,” in line with authorities.
The sheriff’s department announced in an update on Friday that after reviewing video footage investigators found “no evidence that the workers were liable for placing the rat poison within the food given to the shopper.”
Before becoming sick, the shopper got into an argument with Taco Bell employees over his food order, police said. Restaurant manager Larry Swift told CBS Colorado the person was annoyed that a drink station wasn’t working and demanded “something free.”
The altercation was significant enough that police were called to the restaurant. He received three bean burritos after which nabbed the fourth one for free of charge, Swift said.
Hours later when the person ate his food at home around 7 p.m. he began to vomit, police said. On the hospital, deputies saw the burrito the shopper took a bite out of and noticed a greenish-gray substance within the taco.
Police confirmed that they found rat poison in the person’s food after testing, nevertheless “investigators can’t account for a way it got within the food,” the sheriff’s office said.
ACSO searched the person’s remaining food and shut down the Taco Bell because it investigated the restaurant, which subsequently reopened following a health inspection.
“We don’t carry poison within the restaurant,” Swift told CBS. “We didn’t do anything like that. It didn’t even add up. It’s ridiculous.
Investigators have been attempting to contact the shopper via phone but have been unable to achieve him, the sheriff’s office said. On Thursday, they went to the person’s house but there was no answer.
Police are asking for the person to achieve out to the sheriff’s office if he has any further information.
Colorado police have found “no evidence” that Taco Bell employees were responsible for rat poison present in a burrito consumed by a customer who became violently sick.
The person was hospitalized Sunday after consuming the take-out order from the fast food restaurant’s Aurora location and the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office later said the burrito was laced with the poison.
Enough rat poison was found that “it will have been very serious to our victim’s health,” Deputy John Bartmann said on Wednesday, and classified the case as “criminal attempt homicide,” in line with authorities.
The sheriff’s department announced in an update on Friday that after reviewing video footage investigators found “no evidence that the workers were liable for placing the rat poison within the food given to the shopper.”
Before becoming sick, the shopper got into an argument with Taco Bell employees over his food order, police said. Restaurant manager Larry Swift told CBS Colorado the person was annoyed that a drink station wasn’t working and demanded “something free.”
The altercation was significant enough that police were called to the restaurant. He received three bean burritos after which nabbed the fourth one for free of charge, Swift said.
Hours later when the person ate his food at home around 7 p.m. he began to vomit, police said. On the hospital, deputies saw the burrito the shopper took a bite out of and noticed a greenish-gray substance within the taco.
Police confirmed that they found rat poison in the person’s food after testing, nevertheless “investigators can’t account for a way it got within the food,” the sheriff’s office said.
ACSO searched the person’s remaining food and shut down the Taco Bell because it investigated the restaurant, which subsequently reopened following a health inspection.
“We don’t carry poison within the restaurant,” Swift told CBS. “We didn’t do anything like that. It didn’t even add up. It’s ridiculous.
Investigators have been attempting to contact the shopper via phone but have been unable to achieve him, the sheriff’s office said. On Thursday, they went to the person’s house but there was no answer.
Police are asking for the person to achieve out to the sheriff’s office if he has any further information.
