Thread: AZ: Restaurant manager fired in flap with lawmen

Restaurant manager fired in flap with lawmen
Derided deputies on arrest of migrants
JJ Hensley
The Arizona Republic
Mar. 2, 2008 12:00 AM

Maricopa County sheriff's deputies were warned Friday to watch where they eat when they're in uniform, after an incident at a Fountain Hills restaurant.

The warning came a little more than a week after four uniformed Sheriff's Office employees stopped to get take-out at a Pei Wei restaurant.

As the four were preparing to leave, the Sheriff's Office said, someone in the kitchen made loud comments directed at the sheriff's employees that indicated "you are the guys arresting all of my kitchen staff."

The employees took that to be in reference to the well-documented arrests of illegal immigrants throughout the Valley in recent months by the Sheriff's Office.

The restaurant worker also said, "I am going to cook you something special," according to a letter the Sheriff's Office sent on Wednesday to Rick Federico, chairman and CEO of P.F. Chang's China Bistro Inc., the parent company of Pei Wei.

The four sheriff's employees took "something special" to indicate the food could be tampered with in the future, Sheriff Joe Arpaio said. The employees returned the food and got a refund.

"A lot of people don't like the sheriff because of this (immigration) crackdown," Arpaio said. "It's going to be a little problem as time goes on."

The employee immediately told a sergeant with the group the comments were sarcastic, but the damage was done.

P.F. Chang's fired the employee, a general manager, after learning of the incident, said Laura Cherry, a company spokeswoman.

The company released a statement late Saturday afternoon that read, in part:

"That type of behavior is not tolerated in our company and the remarks that were made by that one individual in no way reflect the thoughts or values of our company."

Arpaio said the employee likely would not be prosecuted for the threats.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/ ... s0302.html

Arpaio said the employee likely would not be prosecuted for the threats.

Any threat to uniformed officers should be prosecuted imo. I'm disappointed with Joe here.