Friendswood Cop Denied Service At Area Whataburger

FRIENDSWOOD, TX — A Friendswood Police detective who was wearing his service weapon on his hip, was denied service at a Whataburger restaurant.

The incident happened Thursday at a restaurant on FM 528 when the plainclothes detective, who also had his badge displayed with his weapon, was denied service by the manager, who cited the company’s conceal carry policy.

The officer identified himself as a law enforcement officer and tried to show the manager his badge, but service was still denied, KTRK reported.

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Even though open carry is allowed in Texas, many businesses can exercise the option of prohibiting weapons being carried open or concealed in their locations.

In 2015, the restaurant chain enacted a policy prohibiting customers from open carrying of weapons, even though the law in Texas allows open or concealed carry.

Whataburger released the following statement:

“This was an unfortunate misunderstanding of our open carry policy, and we’ve reached out to the detective because we want to make this right. Our company policy allows law enforcement with proper identification to open carry at our restaurants, and we’ll be reinforcing this policy with employees through additional training. We’ve also been in contact with the Friendswood Police Officers Association and are trying to get a hold of the detective to apologize for the misunderstanding. We want to make it clear that he and all law enforcement are welcome in our restaurants and we’re proud to serve them.”

Whataburger officials have reached out to the detective to apologize, and plan to send the manager to retraining on corporate policies.

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