Whataburger Fires Employee Who Refused to Serve Police Officers

Whataburger has fired a Lewisville employee who refused service to two North Texas police officers Tuesday night.

Milford police officer Cameron Beckham and Strawn police officer Michael Magovern said they had been working traffic control for the 35 Express Project when they decided to stop at a Whataburger in the 100 block of North Stemmons Freemway at about 8 p.m.

“For us to just walk in and get a bite to eat and so forth, you’re not expecting a confrontation,” officer Beckham said.

Beckham and Magovern said the employee behind the counter told them he didn’t serve police officers.

“I looked at him and said ‘Are you joking?’ and he said nothing,” Magovern said, adding the employee “just stared at [them].”

The officers asked the now former-staffer for his name and reported him to Whataburger’s corporate office. After they were refused service, they went to Dairy Queen instead, the officers said.

In a statement Wednesday, Whataburger apologized and said the person who refused to serve the officers is no longer employed by the company and that the officers were being invited back to the restaurant for lunch Wednesday.

"We were appalled to hear of an employee refusing service to two officers, as we have proudly served first responders across our system for decades," the San Antonio-based company said in a statement. "The employee that refused service is no longer employed with Whataburger. We've also invited the officers back today so we can apologize in person and make this right."

The officers believe it was an isolated incident and said they will continue to support the burger chain.

“We want to let everybody now, this ain’t Whataburger,” Magovern told NBC 5. “This is the fault of one person, probably having a really bad day.”

NBC 5's Anthony Kiekow contributed to this report.