A once high-ranking police officer in Arizona now finds himself out of a job — and all because of the chicken at KFC.

What actually happened when the officer got into the dispute at his local KFC depends on who you ask.

According to employees at the eatery, the police lieutenant, who had been the second-in-command in the department at the time, came into the KFC/Taco Bell combo on July 9. “He ordered some chicken that we didn’t have available at that moment,” recalls the manager who was on duty that day.

A second manager offered the officer another type of chicken and a voucher for a free meal, but the officer instead asked for his money back. The manager claims this is against store policy.

“He told me, ‘Look, fat a–, I don’t want to talk. Just give me my money or I’m taking you to jail. Do you know who I am?'” alleges the manager, who says he then took off his apron in preparation for being arrested.

Says the second employee, “He told me that he was the police lieutenant and told me I had to give him his money back. I said that whether he’s the president of the United States or just a regular person, I can’t give him his money back… He asked me how old I was and said he was going to take me to jail personally.”

One manager says he asked the officer to leave the restaurant because he was being disruptive: “We had a full lobby. I don’t need people yelling, being the way he was in the lobby … we have kids in there and stuff.”

Police records confirm that the officer, who was on leave at the time following a motorcycle accident, did call in to the station to let them know he was making an arrest. “I’ve got a problem with the manager. I’m going to take him for fraudulent activity, so I need a car,” he told the dispatcher.

Now there’s the officer’s side of the story.

“The thing that I’m proud of: I didn’t lose my temper. I didn’t raise my voice. This isn’t worth it,” he says.

According to the officer, he never told anyone they were being arrested and that he called the police department to have them come out and resolve the dispute:

I told them, ‘You’re committing fraud. You can’t take someone’s money, not give them any product, and refuse to give the money back,’… I didn’t yell. I didn’t use profanity, and I left. So how was that disorderly?

When police arrived, they told the officer — who outranked them — that the matter was a civil dispute and couldn’t be resolved by the police.

Graham said he called the Williams police, and that although he out-ranked the officers who arrived, he did not order them to handle the case in any particular fashion.

“It’s a civil matter because you’re a lazy f—–,” the off-duty officer admits to having told the responding officers. “I could have ordered them to make the arrest. I didn’t.”

The responding officers reported that the lieutenant had taken an “aggressive stance” in his dealings with them. After the incident, a police sergeant sent the department chief a memo outlining what he said were police department policy violations: neglect of duty, not supporting fellow officers, disorderly conduct, not creating harmony and cooperation within the department, not conforming to rules and regulations and oppression under the color of law.

While the incident was being investigated, the lieutenant was ordered to turn over his phone, badge and weapons but declined. Police had get a search warrant for his home in order to retrieve these items.

The officer was terminated on July 28 but says he plans on filing a wrongful-termination suit.
Finger-lickin’ bad [Arizona Daily Sun]

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