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Delivery Drivers Change the Way They Do Business After Shooting of Domino’s Driver

EAST STROUDSBURG — Three people were arrested in Monroe County after a robbery scheme left a Domino’s delivery driver in critical condition. Now, delivery...

EAST STROUDSBURG -- Three people were arrested in Monroe County after a robbery scheme left a Domino’s delivery driver in critical condition.

Now, delivery spots in East Stroudsburg are changing the way they do business.

In light of the shooting, delivery drivers at Cluck-U have virtually no cash on them anymore. In fact, a manager tells Newswatch 16 that drivers will only have enough money to make change.

Nicolas Melendez has been working as a delivery driver for Cluck-U for five years.

He said he has never worried about it much before, that is until a Domino’s driver was shot in the face this week.

“Nothing like this has ever happened before. It’s kind of sad, to be honest, that people would do something like this,” Melendez said.

State police said Israel Berrios, 17, his girlfriend Carolina Carmona, 30, and her brother Salvador Roberts all came up with the plan to rob and shoot a Domino’s delivery driver.

Troopers said Carmona called the pizza place with a fake order early Monday morning. When delivery driver Richard Labar showed up, Berrios jumped out of the bushes, demanded money, and shot Labar in the face.

“We were all just like in mourning. It was a shock because the gentleman was such a sweet guy and never did anything to hurt anybody and was very pleasant. I mean, we wanted him here, but he was working there first,” Cluck-U General Manager Justin Huertas said of Labar.

Because of this shooting, management at Cluck-U is trying to make it safer for drivers to deal with customers. Now, drivers won’t be carrying as much cash.

“We’re actually going to start cashing the drivers out after every delivery is done so nothing is lost or misplaced,” Huertas said.

There’s also a policy in place where if drivers don’t feel safe in a certain neighborhood, they can just turn around and leave. A phone call will be made to the customer explaining why the driver felt nervous, and telling the customer they need to come pick up the food themselves.

“If there's a house that I go to and it's not lit well, Iike, there’s no lights on or anything, I won’t go up to the door. I’ll just call and be like, ‘Hey, I’m outside,’” Melendez said.

State police said Labar is on life support with no brain activity.

All three suspects are locked up on no bail, charged with attempted homicide.

Newswatch 16 reached out to Domino’s to see if it was doing anything differently with its deliveries after this shooting, but we did not hear back.

There is a GoFundMe set up to raise money for Labar's family.

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