A homeless man in Boston has filed a $1 million civil-rights lawsuit against Burger King after he was arrested for trying to buy breakfast with a $10 bill that a restaurant employee mistakenly believed was fake. Emory Ellis tried to buy the breakfast in November 2015 at a Burger King in downtown Boston, but the 27-year-old was arrested after the cashier called police. Ellis filed the suit Tuesday, claiming that he was discriminated against because of his appearance as a black homeless man. He reportedly spent more than three months in jail on charges of using counterfeit cash. Ellis’s lawyer, Justin Drechsler, contends that the employee probably wouldn't have questioned the money if a white man in a suit had handed him the same bill.
