A group of Pennsylvania police officers decided to pay the tab for a couple that refused to sit next to them at a restaurant that both groups were dining in on Friday night.
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Officer Chuck Thomas of the Homestead police department and three other police officers dined in at the Eat n’ Park restaurant the day after the Dallas shooting.
“A table goes to sit down and the guy looks over at one of the police officers and was like, ‘Nah I don’t want to sit here.’ So they got moved completely opposite, away from the police officers,” Eat N’ Park server Jesse Meyers told WTAE-TV.
Thomas said he recalled the man saying, “I don’t want to sit there.” Thomas then turned to the man’s direction and noticed that the man’s body language told him that he did not want to be near police officers.
Thomas said, “You don’t have to worry about it. We won’t hurt you,” to which the man replied “No, I’m good. I don’t want to sit there.”
He and another officer agreed that they should pay for the couple’s tab and asked Meyers to bring over the check.
Thomas and the other officer wanted to send the couple a positive message to let them know that police officers are there to serve them. He added that police officers are there “to better the relationship with the community and the police.”
The total of the bill came to $28.50 and the officers left a gracious $10 tip.
On the receipt, the officer wrote, “Sir, your check was paid for by the police officers that you didn’t want to sit next to. Thank you for your support. I left a $10.00 tip too.”
Thomas said after the Dallas shooting, he wanted to reach out to the community.
“The day after Dallas, it was tight. You could feel the tension in the air,” Thomas said. “A lot of people did come up to us and thank us and shook hands and spoke of their sorrow. This was the only negative experience of the day.”
Meyers told the officers that the couple was “thrown back at it” and chuckled.
