McDonald’s employee fired for refusing service to Brenham police officer

A McDonald’s employee in Brenham northwest of Houston has been fired for refusing to serve an off-duty police officer, according to news reports.

The officer had gone into the restaurant at 500 Highway 290 with his two kids and was turned away by the employee at the counter who told him she didn’t serve law enforcement officers, Brenham Police Chief Craig Goodman told KHOU.com. Another employee stepped in to serve him.

“Nobody deserves to be treated like that,” Goodman said. “We know that these kinds of problems exist elsewhere in the country — did not expect it here.”

He told the station the female employee’s son was already in custody on serious charges and believes that may have been the cause of her negative attitude toward police.

“We know this was an isolated incident that involved a single employee who is not fond of Law Enforcement,” Goodman said in a post on the Brenham Police Department Facebook page. “It is my hopes and prayers that this employee and anyone else who has a negative view of Law Enforcement address the real and/or perceived problem(s) through positive communication with us.”

The McDonald’s franchise owner expressed regret in a comment under the Brenham Police Department post, which included a photo of a group of Brenham police officers standing by a patrol car outside the restaurant Wednesday: “My family was very upset,” he said. “It’s sad that people act this way towards police or other people.”

The incident didn’t take long to grab attention on social media:

A couple of commenters questioned the restaurant’s action:

There have been numerous reports across the nation of police being denied service in recent months. Just last month in Dallas, an employee at a Genghis Grill was fired for refusing to serve a group of Dallas police officers. In September, two police officers were denied service at a Whataburger in Lewisville.

This story was originally published July 28, 2016 at 12:36 PM with the headline "McDonald’s employee fired for refusing service to Brenham police officer."