There are a number of off-the-wall sports practiced around the US that involve the destruction of food items. None of them has made it into the Olympic Games yet. Pumpkin chunking, potato cannons and the ubiquitous egg-and-spoon-race are but a few of the sports. While there are lots of entertaining and frankly, strange “food games” around, cake-kicking has never made the list, and never inside a grocery store. Which is why one woman in Bloomfield Township in Oakland County, Michigan is now facing charges for drop-kicking a cake inside Kroger.
The “cake-kicker,” as she has come to be known in the media, is 46-year-old Tricia Kortes, and the incident which earned her this unofficial moniker took place inside a Kroger grocery store in Bloomfield Township. According to court documents, Kortes arrived at the bakery department of Kroger on a Sunday afternoon in late June.
Kortes arrived at the store to pick up the custom order “Batman vs. Superman” birthday cake she had ordered for her 7-year-old son, but was unhappy with the way in which it was turned out. Kroger employees say that Kortes then went behind the counter into the employees only section of the bakery and attempted to fix the cake herself. However, because she wasn’t allowed in this section of the bakery, employees instructed her to leave.
Angry, Kortes then went back into the customer area at the front of the bakery counter and allegedly dropkicked the cake. Once it had landed and splattered cake and frosting on the floor and nearby shelving, Kortes then allegedly stomped on it several times while shouting expletives and yelling, “They ruined my 7-year-old’s birthday cake!” She then left the store in a hurry, knocking over a wet floor sign on her way out.
Kortes claims the cake slipped out of her hands by accident
Police were called to the store, where they took a report of the incident. However, the store manager’s account of events differed slightly from what Kortes claimed had happened. According to the store manager, Kortes intentionally “drop kicked” the cake and then stomped on it. But in Kortes’ version of events, which she shared during a later interview with police, the cake slipped out of her hands by accident.
Although Kroger did not have video surveillance of the event, several witnesses corroborated the store employees account of the incident. Kortes was later charged with Disorderly Conduct in Oakland County’s 48th District Court. Under Michigan law, Disorderly Conduct is a misdemeanor punishable by up to 90 days in jail and fines of up to $500. Kortes has since entered a no contest plea which is not the same thing as an admission of guilt but is treated as such in a court of law. The criminal lawyers in our Oakland County office say that pleading no contest is simply declining to contest the charges. For that reason, the plea is treated as a guilty plea.
While this incident may seem a little strange and many of you may not understand how anyone could get so upset over a birthday cake, you have only to spend a little time on the popular website cakewrecks.com to see just how badly, and how often, custom cake orders can be horribly botched!