An Alexandria, Va., police officer was denied service at a local Noodle & Co. after the cook reportedly refused service, according to Fox5DC.
Police say that the incident occurred Monday evening when the female officer, dressed in full uniform, decided to get a meal from the Noodles & Co. on Duke Street. According to the station, the officer was waiting in line when the cook came out of the kitchen, walked up to the cashier and said something to the effect of, “You are going to have to take me off the line because I am not serving that.”
After a brief exchange between the cashier and cook, the two started laughing at the officer, who decided to leave the restaurant when she realized what was happening and call her supervisor, authorities say.
Police Chief Earl Cook confirmed that the incident happened. "Well, your first response as a police officer is anger," he told Fox5DC. "These are very difficult times right now with our relations with everyone, and to have one of my officers treated in that manner unnecessarily, your first response is anger. Then you calm down a bit as usual, let’s find out what happened, and as we have talked to our officer and talking to the store management, it seems to have happened as my officer stated.”
The chief was angry enough to take a trip over to the Noodles & Co. himself, Fox5DC reports.
The company released a statement after the incident:
“Noodles & Company expects the highest ethical and personal behavior from its team members. We value each of our guests and are committed to treating every one with dignity and respect. We do not tolerate any form of discrimination.
We are working with the appropriate authorities and local police association representatives to get to the bottom of, and resolve this matter as quickly as possible. We have made efforts to reach out to the police officer involved, but have not yet spoken with her. We will continue to look into the situation and will take the appropriate actions at the conclusion of this review.”
A police-union representative spoke to the business as well and told the station that the company had agreed to post signs on its doors indicating that it supports blue lives.
"They’ve been very cooperative with us in this matter, and we hope they continue the cooperation. We hope that the business is not judged by the actions of a couple of individuals,” Pete Feltham of the Alexandria Police Union said.
Read more at Fox5DC.