N.J. Officer Settles Suit Over Hair Put in Sandwich

A southern New Jersey police officer will get nearly $14,000 to settle a civil lawsuit he filed against a short-order cook who placed his own body and pubic hair in the officer’s bagel sandwich as payback for a traffic stop.

Bruce Zamost, the attorney for Evesham Officer Jeremy Merck, says his client agreed to the settlement last month.

The suit stemmed from a February 2010 incident at a Marlton deli. The cook, Ryan Burke of Stratford, was immediately fired and eventually pleaded guilty to aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer and retaliation against a public official.

Burke was sentenced to 15 days in jail and received two years of probation, but Merck thought that sentence was insufficient.

Burke and the deli will pay unspecified portions of the $13,750 settlement.