Florida police officer’s beef over ‘dirty’ burger proves to be misunderstanding
A Florida police officer that accused a local Burger King restaurant of putting dirt on his sandwich might have to eat his words.
Fort Myers police officer Tim McCormick took to Facebook after he noticed something brown and grisly on top of the meat in his burger. According to him, it was dirt and he wanted answers.
reported that McCormick confronted the workers at the Burger King but no one could explain how the alleged dirt was placed on his food.
"I was the Officer who was served a burger at Burger King at 4004 Cleveland Avenue in Ft Myers with dirt in it, At first I thought it was just burned old bacon, I was hungry and ate the burger, at the last bite I saw dirt and grit on the burger. In disgust, I threw it out of the window," his Facebook post wrote and appeared to be deleted later.
His Facebook post started to pop up everywhere. Eventually it captured the attention of the person in charge at Burger King, who then started an investigation.
“This has my full and undivided attention," said Dan Fitzpatrick, CEO and chairman of Quality Dining Inc., the franchisee who operates the Burger King restaurant.
Fitzpatrick spoke with the Fort Myers Police Department and together they were able to obtain surveillance footage of the burger being made.
After watching the video, Fitzpatrick determined that nothing criminal happened to the burger nor was dirt placed on it by accident.
But something was placed on the meal that McCormick mistook for dirt. What was the reason for his confusion – the seasoning. Salt and pepper to be exact. In the process of cooking the meat, the mixture can sometimes appear to look like dirt.
Fitzpatrick has arranged for McCormick to watch the video as well, according to The New-Press in Fort Myers.
With the mystery solved, Fitzpatrick says he hopes the investigation showed the police department that he cares about them and didn’t want to cause trouble.
"It's hard to not go far these days to see first responders put in harm's way and not be respected," he said. "We love these guys."
As for the Fort Myers Police Department, they were notified that McCormick made the complaint but said the company was quick to investigate.
"Burger King took it very seriously," Fort Myers Police Capt. Jay Rodriguez said. "We hope it can get resolved. There was no malicious intent."