When Cops Lie
Three New York City Police officers falsely accused the staff of a Manhattan Shake Shack of giving them poisoned milkshakes with little to no proof, and the manager of the store ended up getting arrested and interrogated for more than an hour.
Now, nearly a year to the day since the department determined that burger joint had no intention of harming the officers, the store’s former manager has filed a federal defamation lawsuit against the city, the officers involved, and the police unions that helped perpetuate the baseless claim before it was disproven.
All three officers involved were examined and released from the hospital with no symptoms at the time of the incident, and the police investigation into the Shake Shack location found no evidence that employees tampered with the food that was served to the officers.
“There was no evidence whatsoever that Plaintiff or his employees had poisoned Defendant Officers Strawberry Shake, Vanilla Shake and Cherry Shake [...] because they never got sick,” the lawsuit says.
On June 15, 2020, during the height of the country’s reckoning against police brutality following the murder of George Floyd, three NYPD officers—named Officers Strawberry Shake, Vanilla Shake, and Cherry Shake in the lawsuit—were on protest duty when they decided to buy a round of milkshakes. The officers ordered the items using a mobile app, according to the lawsuit, and picked up their food minutes later. After realizing the shakes had a distinct, bleach taste, they threw out the shakes and headed back to the Shake Shack where Marcus Gilliam, 28, was the manager.
After apologizing and providing vouchers for free meals at Shake Shake, the lawsuit says Gilliam cooperated with the department’s investigation into what happened.
Despite his cooperation, however, the officers allegedly told their sergeant that Gilliam added a “toxic substance” to their drinks, even though the order was placed through a mobile app. That means the store employees couldn’t have known that members of the NYPD would be coming to pick up the shakes.
That didn’t stop the officers’ unnamed sergeant from ordering police to set up a crime scene at the location. Gilliam allowed police to search the entire store for evidence of the poisoning, including the personal belongings of employees. Police even checked surveillance footage, interviewed employees, and even showed them how milkshakes were made.
Gilliam was eventually arrested and interrogated by two NYPD detectives according to the lawsuit. The detectives would interrogate him for more than an hour, and detain him for a total of three hours. He was eventually released at 1:30 a.m., just hours before NYPD police chief Rodney Harrision would tweet about the investigation.
In the end, the rancid taste of the shakes were the result of an uncleaned milkshake machine, a police source told New York Daily News last summer.
Total cooperation did Gilliam and his employees no good: an NYPD Lieutenant emailed the Police Benevolent Association and the Detectives Endowment Association with false details that the bad shakes caused the officers to throw up. Both unions tweeted about the false claims as if they were true.
“When NYC police officers cannot even take meal without coming under attack, it is clear that environment in which we work has deteriorated to a critical level," a tweet by the PBA’s Pat Lynch said. “We cannot afford to let our guard down for even a moment.”
The lawsuit called the two unions and Pat Lynch “grossly irresponsible” for pushing out the tweet, which received thousands of likes and shares on social media. Gilliam is seeking an unspecified amount in compensatory damages in relation to the incident, as well as payment of his legal fees.
When reached by VICE News, the Police Benevolent Association did not immediately provide comment. The Detectives Endowment Association declined to comment on the lawsuit when reached.
Cop Caught on TikTok Choking Someone Out During a Traffic Stop
A North Carolina sheriff’s deputy was caught on TikTok using a chokehold during a traffic stop. The deputy has since been placed on paid administrative leave.
The video, which was shared on Saturday, shows the deputy applying the chokehold to a man as another deputy stands in front of them. While the man appears to be communicating with the officers at first, things seem to take a turn 20 seconds into the video as he clutches at the officer’s arm around his neck. After another 15 seconds, the man’s arm, and the rest of his body, goes limp. The officer then moves the man to the ground before the video ends.
In a second video posted by the same user, the man, who regained consciousness, is being searched by a second police vehicle parked a few feet away from where he was choked out. Before the video ends, a vehicle pulls up and parks in front of the user’s view of the arrest in progress.
The user, who posted the video with the hashtags “#CopsOfTikTok” and “#BlueLivesMatter,” said that the man was resisting before he began recording the first video, though he doesn’t detail how, exactly, he was resisting.
The filmmaker, who appeared in the post to support the police, did not immediately respond to messages about the video from VICE News.
The sheriff’s office told local news outlets that they are aware of the video, which already has over 71,000 views on TikTok, and have already taken action.
"The Burke County Sheriff’s Office is investigating two TikTok videos involving a deputy with a suspect who was arrested on an outstanding warrant,” the sheriff’s office told Charlotte NBC affiliate WCNC. “The deputy has been placed on administrative leave with pay until the investigation is completed which can hopefully be concluded in a matter of days."
Chokeholds are specifically considered a use of deadly force, according to the Burke County Sheriff’s Office’s use of force policy, which was last updated in January. The policy specifically says officers are only allowed to use deadly force when it seems reasonably necessary for an officer to defend themselves or others from someone who is an imminent threat. The policy also says officers can use deadly force when someone armed with a deadly weapon is trying to evade arrest or escape custody.
“Although North Carolina General Statutes authorize the use of deadly force against an unarmed and otherwise non-dangerous person who is escaping custody imposed for conviction of a felony, deputies of the Burke County Sheriff’s Office are expressly prohibited from using deadly force in this situation,” the policy notes. “Deputies may only use deadly force against an escaping convicted felon if deadly force is authorized by other provisions in this policy.”
The Burke County Sheriff’s Office declined to comment further on the arrest, but did say that an update on the investigation would be coming sometime in the next 48 hours.
The man, who the sheriff’s office has not identified, was also pinned with two charges of resisting arrest, according to arrest warrants obtained by the Morganton News Herald. The outlet reports that the man allegedly refused to comply with demands to stop resisting, tried to pull away from officers, and attempted to wrestle away one of the officer’s pepper spray. In the fray, one of the officers was allegedly hit with the spray.
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