An employee at a Manassas, VA, Buffalo Wild Wings flat-out refused to serve eight police officers with handguns just because they were wearing plain clothes.
The Prince William County officers were obviously not civilians as they physically displayed their badges on their clothing when they entered the establishment on March 20. The staff member refused them service until they secured their guns.
Scott Lupton, the restaurant’s manager, did not hear about what happened until the next day. He was shocked at his employee’s behavior toward the officers, calling the incident a “huge misunderstanding,” according to The Washington Times, adding that his staff should have called him immediately regarding the occurrence.
The refusal to serve the officers was a wrong action taken by the server, Lupton told the Manassas Park Patch.
The “wrong action” became a national story when Daryl LaClair, a Prince William County resident, wrote a letter about what happened to the Buffalo Wild Wing’s corporate headquarters. He then began a “public awareness campaign regarding the incident,” according to the Patch.
“There is no reason why those officers should have been asked to leave … police officers are always welcome in my establishment and even though we do have a no gun policy, as a company that excludes off duty police officer,” Lupton responded in an email to LaClair. “As a company we are community oriented. We appreciate everything that police officers do for us.”
LaClair called what happened “absurd” in an email to Patch.
Despite his best efforts – even making a trip to the Prince William County police station with a personal apology note – Lupton had still not been able to personally reach the officers as of Monday.
