Marshall Michael Magovern claimed he and a partner were denied service at a Lewisville, Texas Whataburger restaurant because they were police officers. 

LEWISVILLE, Texas — Michael Magovern and Cameron Beckham ate dinner at Dairy Queen Tuesday night. It was their second choice. 

The two men say they were denied service at a local Whataburger because of what they were wearing: police uniforms. 

Magovern, a 13 year law enforcement veteran who currently serves as a city marshal in Strawn, Texas, claims that before he and his partner opened their mouths to order the restaurant’s nightshift manager told them “We don’t serve police officers.”

Now he’s not serving anyone. 

After news of the incident spread through social media, Whataburger responded by firing the manager who claims the incident was simply a misunderstanding. 

“We were appalled to hear of an employee refusing service to two officers, as we have proudly served first responders across our system for decades,” the company said in a statement. “As soon as we heard of this isolated incident, we began our own internal investigation overnight. The employee that refused service is no longer employed with Whataburger. We’ve also invited the officers back today so we can apologize in person and make this right.”

The former manager reportedly had worked at the restaurant for eight years.

“I told them, ‘Look man, it was just a joke, And I apologize if y’all took it the wrong way,” the former employee told WFAA. “I said, ‘It was just a joke, I do that to a lot of police officers.'”

Magovern said the man seemed serious.

“It really strikes a nerve personally and professionally because maybe he’s joking or maybe he’s not, but how do we trust that individual or that company to cook anyone’s food now,” Magovern said.

Beckham feels the incident is yet another indicator of the hostile climate in which police are currently operating. 

“It makes you realize that this is how a lot of these guys feel,” he told Fox 4.

Reports of officers being denied service have popped up across the country in recent weeks. 

Last week, an unidentified Philadelphia police officer took to Facebook to complain about a barista twice denying him use of the restroom at a Starbucks location, saying he was not a paying customer.

“It’s hip for this generation to berate and totally disrespect cops in front of the public and praise cop killers as the heroes of [their] time,” the officer wrote. 

Starbucks later issued a personal and public apology to the officer. 

“We are taking steps to ensure this doesn’t happen in the future. This does not represent the experience we hope to create for any of our customers,” the company said in a statement. 

Earlier this month, an employee at a Florida Arby’s restaurant refused to give Sgt. Jennifer Martin her food when she pulled up to the drive-thru window. 

“He doesn’t want to serve you because you are a police officer,” the restaurant’s manager told her.

The snub sparked a social media firestorm that led Arby’s CEO Paul Brown to offer free meals for a day to police officers who showed up in uniform at the store where the incident took place. 

Only one took him up on the offer.