Teen sues Burger King, A phone prank reportedly had serious consequences for an Indiana teenager.
The 15-year-old girl is suing the Pendleton Burger King where she worked after she was allegedly strip searched at the request of a prank phone caller in December, RTV6's Sarah Fraidin reported.
According to the teen, a man claiming to be a police officer called the Burger King and said he was conducting an investigation into a stolen change purse. The caller reportedly instructed the store manager to strip search the girl, who was working the cash register.
The manager allegedly complied and took the teen to a back room and ordered her to take her clothes off.
"She did what her supervisor told her to do, and what her manager told her a police officer had told her she was supposed to do," the teen's lawyer, Ken Lauter, said. "She was made to turn around and to allow an inspection of her body, and to stand there naked for about a half an hour."
According to the police report, the manager followed the instructions of the prank caller, even calling a male employee to witness the strip search, Fraidin reported.
The lawsuit claimed the manager should have realized it was a prank, especially after the prank caller began to ask if the teen had any tan lines, tattoos or cleavage.
"Any rational, reasonable review of what was going on would have told him that something was wrong," Lauter said. "Apparently this guy got his kicks by getting a detailed description of the girl. Let's face it, the guy's a pervert, but the people at Burger King should have realized that, and never did until the dad came in and saved his daughter."
The girl's father was reportedly waiting for her in the parking lot, became suspicious, and jumped over the counter to find the strip search under way in the back room, Fraidin reported.
According to police, the same prank was called in to three other stores that same day. Two managers searched their employees in private, the other hung up the phone, Fraidin reported.
A call to Burger King's lawyers for comment was not immediately returned.
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