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T-Mobile responds to on-duty officer’s allegations that store refused to serve him until he disarmed
A T-Mobile employee has been fired after reportedly refusing service to an on-duty police officer. (Image source: YouTube screenshot)

T-Mobile responds to on-duty officer’s allegations that store refused to serve him until he disarmed

The Oregon T-Mobile store employee who refused service to an on-duty police officer has been fired for their misconduct, according to Blue Lives Matter.

What happened?

Detective Ryan Brown of the Grants Pass, Oregon, police department received an apologetic phone call from a T-Mobile executive on Monday night, according to his wife, who spoke to Blue Lives Matter.

"We were contacted by the [vice president] of T-Mobile West Coast Operations, who offered an apology on behalf of the business," said Jennifer Brown, who is also a police officer. Jennifer added that the executive said the company had investigated the incident and terminated the employee of the store involved.

"[The executive] pulled video surveillance and said that the employee's statements of what occurred were not consistent with the video," Jennifer said.

A spokesperson for T-Mobile confirmed with the outlet that the incident did occur but noted that it didn't reflect company policies.

"We promptly investigated last night, [and] that individual is no longer associated with the T-Mobile brand," the spokesperson said.

On Tuesday, T-Mobile Executive Vice President Jon Freier tweeted about the incident and reiterated the company's apology.

"We have investigated this issue at one of our independently owned and operated stores in Oregon," Freier wrote. "While isolated at this one store with their employee, it's clearly unacceptable. We will be taking the appropriate actions to ensure this does not happen again.

"And we’ve made contact with Detective Brown to genuinely apologize for this terrible experience. Very poor judgement. We will be taking the right set of actions and next steps," he continued.

What's the background?

An employee at the T-Mobile store in question refused service to the plainclothes, on-duty detective because of his weapon. Both his badge and service weapon were visible.

According to Jennifer Brown, the employee told her husband to leave his service weapon in his car.

The detective, a 20-year veteran of the department, simply left the store instead of disarming.

“I was appalled, but my heart also broke a little bit for him,” Jennifer said of the employee's response. “Someone that has given so much to this community for so long — it felt like a slap in the face. Almost as if they were giving him the middle finger instead of saying ‘thank you’ for protecting us.”

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