Luigi Mangione's Lawyer Claims Cops Illegally Collected DNA by Giving Him Snack After McDonald's Arrest

Luigi Mangione, the alleged shooter of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, had his rights violated by Altoona police when they confronted him while at a McDonald’s in Pennsylvania, his lawyers claim.

In a recent court filing, Mangione’s lawyer, Thomas Dickey, argued that police “had no objective grounds” to detain the University of Pennsylvania graduate, 26, “other than a hunch and/or unparticularized suspicion,” ABC News reports.

Officers responded to the McDonald’s after receiving a 911 call about a “‘suspicious male that resembled the suspect who shot the CEO in New York” but besides that police, didn’t have “independent corroborating evidence that [Mangione] was in fact the suspect sought in New York, prior to, or at the time of their stop and/or the investigatory detention of” his client, Dickey alleged.

Mangione’s detention at the McDonald’s on Dec. 9, was unconstitutional and geared to “restrict and totally curtail his liberty,” his lawyer claims, per ABC News.

After his arrest, officers allegedly provided Mangione with a snack so they could obtain a DNA sample, according to his attorney, and that any DNA samples are “poisonous fruits” and shouldn’t be allowed as part of the evidence.

Mangione is charged with multiple counts of murder, terrorism and stalking in the Dec. 4 shooting of Thompson outside a Midtown Manhattan hotel, where a masked gunman fired at least three shots and then fled the scene on a bike. He has pleaded not guilty.

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Police said “delay,” “deny” and “depose” were inscribed on the shell casings — an apparent nod to what critics have noted are strategies used by insurance companies to reject claims.

Five days after the killing, Mangione was taken into custody at the McDonalds and charged with possessing an unlicensed firearm, forgery and providing false identification in Pennsylvania.

Earlier this month, Dickey alleged that Mangione’s arrest in Pennsylvania was illegal because he was never properly read his rights, per ABC News. In a filing last week, he asked that the Pennsylvania charges be dismissed and that prosecutors be prohibited from calling Mangione’s writings a manifesto, reports 6ABC.

Police said Mangione was allegedly found with a “ghost gun,” fake IDs and a letter addressed to “the feds” claiming “parasites” in the health insurance industry “had it coming.”

According to a criminal complaint, Mangione allegedly “became quiet and started to shake,” after being asked by police officers at the McDonald’s if he had recently been to New York.