AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – The owners of an Augusta Chick-fil-A are apologizing to a police officer who says he experienced racial discrimination.

His white co-workers were offered free meals, but the Black officer was not, WSOC reports.

“I was kind of humiliated and embarrassed, you know, at the whole situation because it seemed like it was a, it seemed like it was a racial issue to me,” Sgt. Tracy Reed told the station.

He said it happened while the officers from Clover, S.C., were in Augusta on a work-related trip a few weeks ago.

He and the three other officers went into the restaurant for breakfast, all with the same uniform on and standing in line together.

He said the three white officers were offered a complimentary meal – something the fast-food chain often does for law enforcement – but he had to pay.

“It infuriated me,” one of his fellow officers said.

“And I told him, I said, ‘Do you want me to go say something?’ And he was like, ‘No, I don’t want you to; I don’t want you to cause a scene.’ But I could tell by the way he looked that, you know, he just looked down at his plate, and he looked really embarrassed and humiliated.”

Reed wrote a letter demanding that Chick-fil-A retrain employees and strengthen policies on civil rights compliance.

What he got instead was two cards for free meals and an explanation that it was a mistake – that the employee doesn’t normally work behind the register.

“They said that it was perceived that we were embarrassed or that it was a racial incident, which I didn’t like because I know it wasn’t perceived – it was,” the co-worker said.

“He’s not the only one who perceived it,” he said. “We all perceived it that way. And it’s not even perception. It’s what happened. It was a racial issue.”

Local Owner-Operator Statement:

“We regret the unintentional impact this incident had and sincerely apologize to our Guest. We were deeply concerned by this claim. It appears to have been an honest oversight across separate lines and registers. We are strongly committed to supporting our community’s first responders,” said Owner-Operator Kenny Hanna/Chick-fil-A Augusta Exchange.

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