Sheriffs in North Carolina have alleged that staff at a Shelby fast food outlet verbally attacked them and then served them tainted food, reports say.
The story of the abuse came from the Facebook posting of the wife of a deputy of the Cleveland County Sheriff’s Department. She said the officers were mistreated when they walked to the counter of a Zaxby’s chicken restaurant in Shelby, North Carolina. The wife of the officer said her husband and his partner were in uniform when they were taunted by the food preparers in the back of the store and then served tainted food.
The wife described the name-calling the deputies endured and reported, “Then, as they sat down to eat their food, my husband realized [they] had put the hottest sauce possible on [his] wings — to the point where his food wasn’t even fit to eat.”
The Athens, Georgia-based wings and chicken finger outlet reported that the Shelby outlet is operated by franchise owner Neil Glezen. He promised a full investigation.
For his part, the franchise owner said he would like to meet with the officers to apologize to them in person.
“Me, my team, my family, all take this incident extremely seriously,” franchise owner Glezen told WSOC TV.
“We are going to do whatever we have to do to improve that relationship going forward,” the storeowner said.
The chain also posted a notice to its company Facebook page to address the incident, noting that they are “taking this very seriously”:
Cleveland County Capt. Joel Shores told WBTV that he was certainly angered by the incident, but that it does not surprise him these days.
“Years ago, this profession was respected, it was honored. Now to get ridiculed, to be a target, to possibly get shot at, for little pay. … What’s the motivation to be a police officer other than do it because your heart’s in it to help the community?” Shores told the reporters.
While saying taking taunts has become an unfortunate part of the job, Capt. Shores insisted police officers do not enjoy hurting people.
“We don’t want to shoot no one. We don’t want to pepper spray. We don’t want to taser, that’s not what we wake up to do. We wake up to protect,” he said.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com.
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