SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - The case of one of four teens who were
cited after rapping their order at a McDonald's in Utah appears
headed for trial.
Police in American Fork, about 30 miles south of Salt Lake City,
cited the teens with disorderly conduct last month after the
drive-through rap.
The teens have said they were imitating a rap from a popular
YouTube video, which begins: "I need a double cheeseburger and
hold the lettuce."
Spenser Dauwalder, 18, has said employees at the fast-food
restaurant told him and his friends they were holding up the line
and needed to order or leave.
But Dauwalder said no one else was in line. He and his three
17-year-old friends left without buying anything.
A manager wrote down the car's license plate number and called
authorities, police Sgt. Gregg Ludlow has said. Officers later
cited the teens in a high school parking lot outside a volleyball
match.
"We thought, you know, just teenagers out having fun,"
Dauwalder told KSL Newsradio last month. "We didn't think it would
escalate to that."
Dauwalder is challenging the disorderly conduct infraction in
state court in Utah County. He pleaded not guilty earlier this
month, and at a hearing Wednesday, a bench trial was set for Jan.
29, said his mother, Sharon Dauwalder.
"It's just, it's wrong," Sharon Dauwalder said. "I think the
whole thing is wrong."
Spenser Dauwalder's attorney, Ann Boyle, said the whole incident
has been overblown.
"I just believe that the kids had a right to sing their
order," Boyle said. "They asked them to leave, and they left."
But attorney Kasey Wright, who represented American Fork in
court Wednesday, said the case isn't about free speech.
"This is not a First Amendment case," he said. "This is
disturbing the peace. It's interrupting a business."
Wright said he's open to working out a deal in the case "if it
can serve the demands of justice and the public interest." He said
the trial likely wouldn't last more than an hour and is similar to
what would happen if someone fought a speeding ticket in court.