Hi there. Forgive my curiosity but why not say "McDonald's Employee?" The reason I ask is neither article you linked to even mention the suspect's race. Your title's first word is "Black". To me, this would indicate a desire to draw attention to the suspect's race, since it is the first word of your thread title. I will agree that saying "N******* spits in customer's food" would have been overtly bigoted, but there is all kinds of bigotry.
Yup. If he was caught spitting solely into white folks' drinks, he should be charged with a hate crime.