A sheriff in Georgia sparked controversy by calling in other officers when he realized his Burger King order wasn't what he expected.
I have to admit; realizing you've been given the wrong food order is annoying - especially if it's something specific you've been looking forward to for hours.
It's undeniably disappointing, but I wouldn't say it's worth calling the cops over. Especially if, as a cop yourself, you know it's not exactly an emergency.
But that's what happened at a Burger King joint in Cobb County, Georgia, where Sheriff Craig Owens Sr. stopped in March 2023 to get a bite to eat.
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Recently released body cam footage shows that while Owens was there, sheriff's deputies were called to the restaurant and appeared to use their sirens as they sped to the venue.
Once they arrived, the footage shows the sheriff leaning out of his driver's side window asking one of the deputies to do him 'a favor'.
He explained: "I need to get- all I need is the owner's name of whoever owns this damn facility, or the manager."
Owens went on to say he'd tried to order a Whopper burger for his wife, which he'd wanted cut in half, with no mayo.
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When he checked the order he claimed it was wrong, but when he asked for it to be replaced, he was allegedly denied.
The sheriff said he didn't want any money back, but he wanted to find out the owner's name so he could 'do an official complaint'. It's unclear why Owens was unable to get the owner's name while speaking to staff.
The deputies approached the restaurant and found it had locked its doors in the midst of the incident, with employees still inside.
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When the doors were unlocked, staff told deputies that upset customers had previously tried to act out violently, so they were just trying to be safe. They were reportedly unaware at the time that Owens was the sheriff.
The bodycam footage was shared online by David Cavender, who is running against Sheriff Craig Owens Sr. for sheriff in Cobb County.
In a statement, Dondelinger described the incident 'an abuse of power'.
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He said: “I’m shocked the sheriff feels so flippant about this issue that he would have deputies run lights and sirens, placing citizens at risk and his deputies at risk, just so he could get information from a business owner that clearly could have been followed up on another day."
In his defence, Sheriff Owens, said the matter was a simple business dispute and that any citizen could have called the police for the same reason.
He explained: "I was not in my uniform, and at no point in my interaction with the staff did I identify myself as a member of the law enforcement community.
"At no point did I indicate my position, nor did I ask the responders to do anything that they would not, had not, or have not done for anyone else who makes a business dispute call."
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UNILAD has contacted Cobb County Sheriff's Office for comment.
Topics: Police, Burger King, Food and Drink, US News
Emily Brown