A day after news broke that a West Hartford police officer was denied service at a local Dunkin’ Donuts, people are still angry about the coffee shop controversy.
There are calls for a boycott of a Dunkin’ Donuts and for a worker there to be fired.
Dunkin' Donuts says the store owner has apologized for what the company calls the worker’s “poor judgment.”
Police say an officer was waiting at the back of the line at the store at 1234 Farmington Avenue Saturday morning.
That’s when according to a police report, he heard a worker say, “He didn’t get the message. We don’t serve cops here.”
“I can understand how you feel I mean insulted that way when you walk into a place and someone just says we don’t serve your kind,” says Manny Colon who is a regular customer at the store.
Police say the officer decided to walk out.
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He was chased down by a manager and the worker who said she was only joking.
“The employee had offered to apologize to the officer and the officer said well yeah but the bigger problem is the people who were in there. They’re the ones who are now upset,” says Lt. Stephen Estes, West Hartford Police.
They all went inside where the worker apologized to customers and offered the officer a free coffee, which he turned down.
The so-called joke prompted outrage online. Some demanded Dunkin’ Donuts fire the worker and called for a boycott of the store.
There were some who tried to cool the situation.
Connecticut State Police posted a picture of a trooper at a Dunkin’ Donuts with two workers. The caption read, “Despite the actions of 1, we know our friends at Dunkin' Donuts support us.”
Regulars at the Farmington Avenue shop say some of the workers like to tease customers. But they say this time no one is laughing.
“It’s unfortunate it would go this far but that should, people should wake up and see this and learn from that,” says Colon.
West Hartford police say they were surprised by all of this because generally the community is supportive of them. Someone even showed up at the department Sunday morning with a box of Dunkin’ Donuts.
“I don’t anticipate this happening again. I’m surprised it happened in the first place,” Estes says.
