Pizza company responds to ‘malicious’ comments

A pizza business responded to what the company called “malicious” remarks regarding an employee injury.

Pizza Express said in a press release the Jan. 12 accident in which a delivery driver lost a leg was caused by the worker himself.

The incident took place at 9 p.m. in the intersection of Montes de Toledo Avenue and Anahuac Boulevard.

The company said the traffic report confirmed the driver, Jorge Arturo Lopez Ruiz, ignored a stop sign while on his delivery motorcycle and struck another vehicle. The driver of the other vehicle, who was uninjured, has demanded payment for damages.

The company has filed a lawsuit against the delivery driver and reported the incident to the police for tax and business purposes.

Although the business-owned delivery motorcycle was a total loss, the company assured the driver has not been forced to pay for the vehicle.

Also, the company denied having the driver unregistered from the Mexican Institute of Social Security.

The company did not report if the motorcycle or any of its fleet are insured.

The business is owned by Luis Flores Solis, a former Environmental Protection Agency director for the city of Mexicali. He left Mayor Gustavo Sanchez’s administration a year ago when the mayor’s term ended.

Social media users have called for other community members to stop patronizing the pizza business for what it is seen as a lack of compassion for the injured man.

The company has denied any responsibility, but it did express a desire for the man’s recovery.

“We are sorry that he has decided to refer to us the way he did in the media,” the company said. “(He) has put the business at risk, the safety of Luis Flores Solis and of his family, as well as that of our employees who had been victims of insults and mistreatment.”