Accused Comerica Park pizza spitter due in court Wednesday
(WJBK) - A former food service worker accused of spitting on a pizza he was preparing at Comerica Park was in court Wednesday.
Jaylon Kerley, 20, has been charged with several food law violations that could potentially send him to prison for up to four years. His probable cause hearing was Wednesday, which was waived. He's due in court again October 17.
A co-worker recorded what he says was Kerley spitting on the food. The co-worker told us he tried to tell a manager, but ended up posting the video on social media where it got everyone's attention. It's a video that can turn even the strongest of stomachs.
Kerley has since apologized and he was ordered held on a $100,000 bond/10 percent.
A judge also ordered Kerley to get tested for infectious diseases as a condition of his bond. Those test results are due back October 5.
Quinell May, the person who filmed the video, claims he was wrongfully terminated for exposing the worker. He said Kerley didn't care about being caught and when he tried to speak up, he was ignored.
"I was disgusted, I was mad, I was flabbergasted actually, because who wants to see something like that, spitting in a customer's pizza?" he said. "I tried to contact management, they didn't want to listen. They told me to shut up."
After he said he was ignored, the 17-year-old posted video of the incident to his Instagram account, where it was shared across all social media platforms.
May temporarily took the video off Instagram because he says he got a text from a manager telling him to take it down. They told him if he didn't take the video down that he'd be prosecuted.
"Yep. I was like, prosecuted. What do you mean prosecuted? They should ready to prosecute him for spitting in pizzas, not me for showing the fans what goes on behind closed doors."
The food at Comerica Park is provided by Detroit Sports Service.
Detroit Sports Service denies all of this, saying many of May's claims are just not true. They say he was sent home on a uniform violation and that it had nothing to do with what he recorded. They also say May did not try to speak up forcefully, saying they had no idea he recorded this video at the time he did go home.
When they found out about it, Detroit Sports Service said it closed down the stand and threw away all of the food.