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The manager of a Shake Shack located in downtown Manhattan is suing two police unions after the officers falsely accused him of poisoning their milkshakes. The incident that happened last summer, led to his arrest, interrogation as well as being "taunted" by police for several hours according to the manager.
The defamation lawsuit was filed on Monday to a New York federal court. According to the lawsuit the manager Marcus Gilliam "was falsely arrested, and suffered emotional and psychological damages and damage to his reputation."
About a year ago, during the peak of George Floyd protests, three NYC police officers said they got sick after drinking milkshakes they purchased at the franchise. After they made their claims, the Detectives' Endowment Association (DEA), a union for NYPD detectives, wrote out a tweet as an 'urgent safety message' saying that "three of our brothers in blue were intentionally poisoned by one or more [Shake Shack] workers."
"Police in New York City and across the country are under attack by vicious criminals who dislike us simply because of the uniform we wear," DEA President Paul DiGiacomo said in a statement the day of the incident. "Emboldened by pandering elected officials, these cowards will go to great lengths to harm any member of law enforcement."
However the allegations that they were poisoned proved to be false. The day after the incident the NYPD investigated and came to the conclusion that the employees did nothing wrong and the officers could have gotten sick from the cleaning solution not being completely cleaned out.
The defamation lawsuit filed claims the officers didn't even get sick at all. For the entire lawsuit and more information here's the link to Buzzfeed News.