'Do you shoot black people?' Aventura BurgerFi employee asks police officer

BurgerFi owner apologizes for incident involving North Miami Beach cop

AVENTURA, Fla. – A popular burger joint in Aventura is apologizing after an employee made inappropriate comments to a North Miami Beach police officer while she was placing her order.

Miami-Dade County police union president John Rivera confirmed that the officer was ordering food at BurgerFi in Aventura when the employee working behind the counter asked the officer, "Do you shoot black people?"

The officer felt uncomfortable and reported the incident to her department.

"There's a lot of hateful behavior out there," Rivera said. "The very same people that are denying police officers basic services would be the first ones to dial 911, expecting those same officers to be there to help them."

The owner of BurgerFI in Aventura apologized Saturday night, telling Local 10 News that it was a big misunderstanding.

"No matter what context it was in, it shouldn't have been said, and that's why we're addressing this immediately," Gino Gargiulo said.

Gargiulo said the officer called and asked him not to fire his employee.

"Instead, she wanted officers and my employees to get together and discuss what happened," he added.

Rivera said that since a North Miami police officer opened fire on an unarmed black man, many law enforcement agencies have been receiving hateful messages.

Last week, a clerk at a Miramar convenience store denied service to an officer. In 2015, Arby's issued an apology after a Pembroke Pines police officer was denied service.