Kansas police chief removes post about ‘pig’ coffee after McDonald’s refutes cop’s claim

The police chief of a Kansas town has apparently removed his public Facebook post claiming a McDonald’s employee wrote “(expletive) pig” on an officer’s coffee cup.

Herington Police Chief Brian Hornaday had claimed Saturday on Facebook that one of his officers bought a coffee at the McDonald’s restaurant at 1127 S. Washington in Junction City. A photo with the post showed the expletive and pejorative written on a receipt.

“Although I understand this is likely the act of one person and not a representation of the company, when it was brought to their attention the company offered him a ‘free lunch,’ “ Hornaday wrote in the post. “No thank you. A Veteran who continues to serve deserves so much more.

“This is not only bad for McDonalds, but it is also a black eye for Junction City.”

Hornaday asked people to share the post. As of Monday afternoon, it was no longer available and appeared to have been deleted.

The move comes after the owner of the fast food restaurant told KSNT that a company review of security video “clearly shows the words were not written by one of our employees.”

Hornaday and a McDonald’s spokesman did not immediately respond to requests for comment from The Eagle.

Before the post was deleted, both the Junction City Police Department and Geary County Sheriff’s Office made their own Facebook posts.

Junction City police said they had received many messages asking if the incident was true.

“Unfortunately, this did happen to a Herrington Police Officer,” Junction City police said. “We as a department are upset this occurred especially to an officer in another jurisdiction just stopping by to on his way to work. We would like that officer to know this is not representative of how the majority of residents in Junction City feel about law enforcement.”

The sheriff’s office said “we don’t know the whole story,” adding that they “believe this was an isolated incident and have faith in management at McDoanld’s to get to the bottom of the situation.”

The sheriff and some of his command staff planned to visit the restaurant for a cup of coffee Monday morning “as a show of faith in our community,” the post said.

One commenter on the post accused the sheriff’s office of supporting “the thug who dissed a cop” instead of supporting “your fellow officer.”

The sheriff’s office replied that they are “saddened and sorry for what the officer had to endure,” but they are also “aware of how the community is reacting and choosing not (to) judge every person who works there based on the actions of one person, just as many times in our profession there have been bad officers and we have asked the community not to judge the entire law enforcement community based upon the actions of a small few.”

The Geary County Sheriff’s Office recently lost one of its employees — the sheriff — to a scandal.

Former Sheriff Anthony “Tony” Wolf was sentenced to probation and ordered to pay restitution after he was convicted of theft and misusing public funds. The Kansas Bureau of Investigation had said he gave away a county-owned gun as a gift, among other allegations. The Kansas Commission on Peace Officers’ Standards and Training revoked his certification in October.

This story was originally published December 30, 2019 at 1:24 PM.