On Monday, a Bay Area man suspected to have strangled a shop employee last year pleaded no contest to a felony assault charge before a San Mateo County court.
According to a report by KRON and the Daily Journal, 31-year-old Rimmer Cortezgarcia, Jr., a delivery worker at DoorDash, was picking up an order at Friends Liquor in South San Francisco in March last year.
One of the workers in the shop told him to use his mask to not only cover his mouth but also his nose. KRON reported that the worker told him the order would be canceled if he failed to do so.
But the DoorDash delivery worker was “angered”, prosecutors said, and started strangling the store worker.
KPIX said the store employee managed to escape and immediately called 911.
At that time, the Daily Journal said that the delivery man released a not guilty plea in March when charges were first filed.
He will now be subjected to a lesser sentence, as well as no prison time as he filed a no contest plea. Cortezgarcia does not own up to guilt in the case, being part of the no contest arrangement. KPIX said that he is likely to be jailed for up to a year in county jail.
In a confirmation to SFGATE, DoorDash said that delivery workers are mandated to use personal protective equipment from April 2020.
“The safety of our community is paramount and this violent, abhorrent behavior has absolutely no place on our platform,” the company’s spokesperson cleared to SFGATE. “We deactivated the Dasher’s account immediately upon learning of this incident last year and remain committed to supporting law enforcement however we can.”
KRON said that Cortezgarcia is set to be sentenced on March 7.
SFGATE contacted San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office and DoorDash but both did not return the request for a statement.
