The NYPD has ruled out criminality after three police officers wound up getting sick on Monday night after consuming tainted milkshakes at the Shake Shack location in Manhattan’s Fulton Center.
The incident happened at about 8:30 p.m. on June 15, when the officers went for a meal at the burger joint located in the transit hub at Broadway and Fulton Street in Lower Manhattan. The cops were treated and released at a local hospital.
At first, it was feared the incident was intentional.
The Detectives Endowment Association (DEA), a police union representing NYPD detectives, took to Twitter Monday night to announce the incident, declaring that “three of our fellow officers were intentionally poisoned by one or more workers at the Shake Shack.” The union has since deleted that tweet.
The union’s president, Paul DiGiacomo, declared in an “urgent safety message” on their website that the incident appeared to be a byproduct of the unrest following the police-involved death of Minneapolis man George Floyd.
“Police in New York City and across the country are under attack by vicious criminals who dislike us simply because of the uniform we wear,” DiGiacomo wrote. “Emboldened by pandering elected officials, these cowards will go to great lengths to harm any member of law enforcement.”
The Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, which represents thousands of NYPD officers, seemingly assumed the worst in their own Twitter statement about the incident.
But the investigation revealed a much different story.
According to multiple published reports, it’s believed that the officers’ shakes were contaminated with a cleaning solution that wasn’t fully rinsed out of a blender before workers prepared the beverages.
Just after 4 a.m. Tuesday morning, Chief of Detectives Rodney Harrison announced that an investigation found “no criminality” connected to the poisoning. He did not go into specifics about the case.
After a thorough investigation by the NYPD’s Manhattan South investigators, it has been determined that there was no criminality by shake shack’s employees.
— NYPD Chief of Department (@NYPDChiefOfDept) June 16, 2020
That forced the DEA to offer a mea culpa of sorts in response to their initial report about “intentional” poisoning of police officers.
“Evidently, however, the toxic substance, a cleaning solution, accidentally made its way into the officers’ shakes,” the DEA tweeted. “If so, we are all relieved to hear that this was not an intentional attempt to harm our officers and are pleased to report they will make a full recovery.”
Shake Shack tweeted that it are fully cooperating with the investigation, adding that “our team is working hard to get the full picture.”
