A Milwaukee police officer's lunchtime stop turned political when an employee at Champion Chicken wrote "#BLM," a reference to Black Lives Matter, on the officer's carry-out order. The photo of the order circulating the Internet has some people upset.
Owner Edward Seebach said despite the message from his employee, he's very supportive of the police and was very upset to find out an officer was offended at his restaurant.
The Milwaukee Police Association's president, Michael Crivello, said it's not a matter of color to officers.
"Officers on the street every day will tell you every life matters to them," he said.
A sentiment shared by Seebach.
"I don't know why they use it, because all lives matter," he told TODAY'S TMJ4.
Seebach said he doesn't know which employee of his wrote the message, just that it was one of several young workers in the carry-out side of the restaurant at the time. He's also not sure of the consequences for the employee when he finds them.
He said he doesn't want officers to feel uncomfortable at this business, and doesn't want the negative repercussions of how his employee's action got out.
"It's upsetting that this message got out in such a negative fashion," Seebach said.
The Police Association says the officer felt their food order wasn't the right time for a political statement.
"It was the bag that contained the food that the officer was purchasing...if it said Champion Chicken on the bag, that would be appropriate, but to put a political message on the bag, that's where the problem came in,' Crivello said.
Seebach reached out to the Association and has a "Blue Lives Matter" sign of support in front of his restaurant. He's hoping to remind customers and neighbors he does support police, as he has the last 56 years in business.
