At around 12:30 a.m. on Thursday, Kenneth Horton, an army vet and a Roxboro veteran police officer in his uniform walked into Cook Out to order some food. But he was first denied service by the cashier working on that shift.
Roxboro Police Chief David Hess stated that the officer was on duty at the time of the incident.
A Cook Out employee, Kinston Leake, said, “You’re supposed to serve everybody. It’s Cook Out, come on now.”
Taren Woods, the manager on duty that morning, said, “I didn’t know nothing — that it was that serious until the next day I heard the cashier got fired because she didn’t take the cop’s order.”
Woods confirmed that the cashier refused to serve the officer.
The cashier on duty that morning had then asked a second employee to step in, which is allowed under company policy.
But when the second employee took over, the officer asked what had happened to the first cashier, and then walked away.
Woods stated that she was in the back at the time of the incident and had no idea what had happened.
Woods later learnt that she was fired after she came to work on Friday. She had worked at the restaurant for 10 years.
She said, “He told me he had to let me go because I didn’t take control of the situation, saying how I should have gone outside to take the cop’s order. Mind you it was midnight and policy states that we’re not allowed outside the building after 9:45. So why would I go outside to chase down a cop.”
The incident was shared on Facebook and went viral. Some blamed the cashier and the manager.
She said, “It is frustrating because it’s a lie. And they got all this stuff stirred up. And I lost my job and I got four kids and it’s Christmas time. So yeah, that’s not fair at all.”
Cook Out has not responded to requests for a statement.
Chief Hess stated that his office never asked for the employees to be fired. That was Cook Out’s independent decision.
See the clip here.