A former McDonald’s worker in Kansas has been arrested for allegedly spiking a police officer’s drink with a peroxide-based cleaner, an act that authorities said made the deputy ill.
Trevor Hockaday, 22, was arrested Wednesday on a felony charge of aggravated battery of a law enforcement officer. If convicted, he’ll face up to 20 years behind bars.
According to the Allen County Sheriff’s Office, a deputy on Sept. 12 picked up food and drink from a McDonald’s drive-through in Iola, a small city located about 100 miles southwest of Kansas City. After consuming the beverage, the officer reportedly experienced flu-like symptoms.
“He thought he caught the bug,” Allen County Sheriff Bryan Murphy told The Wichita Eagle.
The reason for the officer’s sudden illness remained a mystery until last week, police said, when one of Hockaday’s co-workers told police Hockaday allegedly added a few squirts of cleaning solution to the cop’s drink. According to KOAM-TV, the peroxide-based substance is typically used to clean counters.
Hockaday has since been terminated by McDonald’s.
In a statement, Iola McDonald’s owner Glen Nichols told International Business Times that the chain is cooperating with the authorities in their investigation.
“In our restaurants, nothing is more important to us than the safety and well-being of our customers,” Nichols said. “We are very disappointed by the allegations made regarding the behavior of one of our former crew members.”
It is not clear why Hockaday allegedly spiked the officer’s drink.
“In today’s day and age, not only us in law enforcement but citizens as a whole, there’s enough going on out there that we have to worry about ... now my guys are cautious about going through that drive through,” Murphy told the Eagle. “We all chose this line of work to protect and serve. Now my guys have that concern of is my food safe.”
