Fired Cook Out employee accused of denying NC officer service speaks out

ROXBORO, N.C. — A North Carolina woman and former Cook Out employee, who was fired for refusing to serve a police officer, is speaking out and defending herself.

Roxboro chief of police David Hess said his colleague Kenneth Horton, an Army vet and veteran police officer, was denied service from one particular cashier.

She did not want to be identified, but she told our news partner WTVD she loves police and had just served three other officers, but she had a problem with the fourth one.

"He makes me uncomfortable and anxious and I don't like feeling like that," the woman said. "And, that's why I called another cashier to wait on him because it was only me and the officer in the front."

WTVD found that officer gave the woman a citation 10 years ago for littering and trespassing, but Roxboro's police chief said the woman never gave a formal complaint and the officer has a clean record.

The manager on-duty spoke to our news partner WTVD. She said she was in the back of the restaurant when the cashier asked another worker to take the officer's order.

She explained the policy surrounding cashiers refusing to take a customer's order.

"If a cashier doesn't feel comfortable taking someone's order, it's not wrong for them to have someone else do it or contact the manager," she said.

The district manager fired her the next day. He told her she should have gone outside and taken the order.

The word spread all over town and on social media about Sergeant Horton's encounter. Hess wanted to make it clear, they did not reach out to Cook Out's corporate office about what happened.

"We're saddened that an employee denied service to a police officer. We promote unity," Hess said. "Unfortunately, it's all because of a small action that could have been avoided."

The former manager said she's a mother of four and worked at Cook Out for 10 years. She said she does not want her job back.

Cox Media Group