On September 12, an unnamed off-duty deputy went through the drive-thru of McDonald’s ordering his lunch, but ended up getting more than he ordered.
McDonald’s employee, Trevor Hockaday, 22, was seen by another employee putting four drops of a peroxide-based cleaning solution in the officer’s drink.
The officer, unknowingly, drove off with his meal and started to drink the drink he ordered. A short time later, the deputy began to feel ill with flu-like symptoms.
Allen County Sheriff Bryan Murphy stated that the deputy thought that he had caught a bug.
However, the employee who witnessed his co-worker spiking the drink came forward days later and provided a statement which resulted in Hockaday being charged, according to the Wichita Eagle.
Hockaday has been charged with felony aggravated battery of a law enforcement officer and is facing between four-and-a-half years to twenty years in prison, depending on his previous criminal record.
The store manager has since released a statement.
According to The Blaze:
> “In our restaurants, nothing is more important to us than the safety and well-being of our customers,” Nichols said. “We are very disappointed by the allegations made regarding the behavior of one of our former crew members. This kind of behavior goes against our food safety standards and is not tolerated,” Nichols’ statement continued. “Our organization will take all appropriate measures to gather facts and will work closely with authorities in their investigation.”
Sheriff Murphy reached out to McDonald’s and was advised that initially the employee was suspended after an internal investigation but Kansas law states that contaminating “any food, raw agricultural commodity, beverage, drug, animal feed, plant, or public water supply” is considered a felony and should be reported.
When asked why they did not notify police, they advised Murphy that it is not in their policy, according to The Blaze.
In recent incidents where officers have claimed their food to be spiked, it turned out not to be the case.
The most recent incident took place earlier this year in Florida where a cop claimed his burger from Burger King was contaminated with dirt, only for it to turn out to be pepper.
Also, in 2016, a Subway employee in Utah was arrested after an officer accused him of putting drugs in his food, but that turned out false.
Earlier this week, a Florida deputy claimed his burrito from Taco Bell had been spiked with bleach. That case is still under investigation.
