Kansas cop made up story about McDonald's workers writing 'PIG' on coffee cup, chief says

HERINGTON, Kan. (KTLA) -- A Kansas police officer who initially claimed McDonald's employees wrote “F-----g pig” on his cup has resigned, the city's police chief said.

“In (our) investigation we have found that McDonald's and its employees did not have anything whatsoever to do with this incident, this was completely and solely fabricated by a Herington police officer who is no longer employed with our agency,” Herington Police Department Chief Brian Hornaday said in a news conference Monday.

The incident, the chief said, has been an “obvious violation of … public trust.”

“Our job is solely to do this job with the utmost integrity because if you can't trust the cops, who can you trust,” he said.

After McDonald's conducted its own investigation, the owner and operator of the Junction City franchise said in a statement the fast food chain was “glad that the evidence confirmed our evaluation that McDonald's and our crew members were absolutely not involved.”

“We took seriously our role to be transparent and fully cooperative with Chief Hornaday throughout his investigation, and we look forward to continuing a strong relationship with the department,” Dana Cook said.

The police chief said the department's investigation concluded that the incident was “meant to be a joke.”

He did not release the officer's name, saying the matter was now “a personnel issue.” He said the officer was a resident of Junction City and had been with the department for about two months. He is not facing any criminal charges at this time, Hornaday said.