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Sheriff’s volunteer dismissed after he falsely claimed Hardee's refused to serve him because he was wearing a 'Blue Lives Matter' bracelet
Image source: YouTube screenshot

Sheriff’s volunteer dismissed after he falsely claimed Hardee's refused to serve him because he was wearing a 'Blue Lives Matter' bracelet

That's an interesting turn of events

A volunteer with the Peoria County Sheriff's Office in Illinois no longer has a volunteer position with the office after reportedly lying about a bias incident that apparently never took place.

What are the details?

A PCSO volunteer purportedly documented the alleged event on Facebook last week.

The volunteer alleged that a local Hardee's restaurant refused him service because he was wearing a "blue lives matter" bracelet.

According to the sheriff's office, the accuser wrote, "To all my brothers and sisters in blue do NOT go to the hardee's at Willow Knolls. I was just refused service because I had a blue lives matter bracelet on!"

According to the PCSO, the accusers post went viral, and resulted in the Hardee's franchise receiving a "series of threatening messages and phone calls."

The sheriff's department naturally stepped in to investigate after its former volunteer made the accusations and discovered that the volunteer reportedly fabricated the entire encounter.

In a separate post, the sheriff's office revealed the volunteer's dishonesty.

"This post was COMPLETELY FABRICATED," the post read. "Video and audio recordings detailing the interaction clearly showed there was no refusal of service and actually showed what [appeared] as friendly service to the person who made this post."

The sheriff's office revealed that the former volunteer is no longer affiliated with the Peoria County Sheriff's Office.

What else?

Peoria County Sheriff Brian Asbell said that he personally apologized to employees at the Hardee's location. In response, the Hardee's reportedly offered free meals to all PCSO officers as a show of "good faith."

The office's statement added, "This was a very honorable gesture, especially when [Hardee's] did nothing wrong."

"If anyone shared the previous social media post which is damaging to this business please share this as well in an attempt to make this right," the statement from the sheriff's office added.

The Facebook post in its entirety read:

On Thursday July 18th a message was posted on Facebook by a volunteer member of the Peoria County Sheriff's Office.

The message stated: "To all my brothers and sisters in blue do NOT go to the hardee's at Willow Knolls I was just refused service because I had a blue lives matter bracelet on!"

This message had some substantial growth which additionally created a series of threatening messages and phone calls to the identified business.

Unfortunately this post was COMPLETELY FABRICATED. Video and audio recordings detailing the interaction clearly showed there was no refusal of service and actually showed what to appear as friendly service to the person who made this post.

Sheriff Asbell has personally apologized to the manager and employees of Hardee's for any damage which has occurred from this unfortunate incident. Additionally the volunteer employee is no longer affiliated with the Sheriff's Office.

If anyone shared the previous social media post which is damaging to this business please share this as well in an attempt make this right.

Additionally, in a good faith effort the manager of the area Hardee's has invited all uniformed Sheriff's Office employees in for a free meal next week...This was a very honorable gesture, especially when they did nothing wrong...

(H/T: Blue Lives Matter)

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