By Jason Tidd
The Wichita Eagle
WICHITA, Kan. — The Herington police chief said a former police officer fabricated an incident with a McDonald’s coffee cup involving an expletive and a pejorative “as a joke.”
Herington Police Chief Brian Hornaday said in a news conference that a police officer at the center of the case is no longer with the department.
Hornaday had originally claimed in a Facebook post that a McDonald’s employee wrote “(expletive) pig” on a coffee cup given to one of his officers, and that it was “a black eye” on Junction City.
“This is now, absolutely, a black eye on law enforcement,” Hornaday said in the news conference.
The 23-year-old officer had been with the department for about two months and fabricated what happened “as a joke,” Hornaday said. An investigation by Hornaday and McDonald’s determined no restaurant employee wrote the statement.
The officer had previously been a military police officer with the U.S. Army. He resigned from the police department.
Hornaday said the case has been discussed with Dickinson County attorney, but he doesn’t expect criminal charges.
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.