Sheriff Calls for Backup Over Incorrect Burger King Order

An Atlanta sheriff called deputies to assist him after a Burger King restaurant screwed up his order, bodycam footage obtained by Channel 2 Action News shows.

The incident in question occurred on March 14, 2023, but is just now coming to light. Several angles of the episode are available, recorded by each of the responding deputies. One video shows a deputy approaching Cobb County Sheriff Craig Owens, Sr., who is seated in the parking lot in the driver’s seat of his pick-up truck. Owens apparently summoned the deputies because he, as an elected official, was hesitant to complain about his order in person.

“Hey, do me a favor. I need to get, all I need is the owner name of whoever owns this damn facility or the manager,” Owens tells the deputy, before explaining that the store confused the order of his female companion. “I wanted her [passenger] a Whopper, no mayo, cut in half, right?”

When the deputies approached the Burger King, they found that the employees had locked themselves inside. After officers assured the employees that they were just there to resolve a food complaint no one was in any legal trouble, the doors were unbolted.

“You didn’t tell him who I was, did you?” Owens asked the deputy when he returned to the sheriff’s truck. “No,” the officer responded. “I just told him it was the guy out in the truck.”

Owens is up for reelection this year, and the video was posted by his opponent, David Cavender. Cavender’s associate, Mike Dondelinger, called the incident “an abuse of power.” “I’m shocked the sheriff feels so flippant about this issue that he would have deputies run lights and sirens, placing citizens at risk and his deputies at risk, just so he could get information from a business owner that clearly could have been followed up on another day,” Dondelinger said.

But Owens disputes claims that he abused his authority. “I was not in my uniform, and at no point in my interaction with the staff did I identify myself as a member of the law enforcement community,” he said. “At no point did I indicate my position, nor did I ask the responders to do anything that they would not, had not, or have not done for anyone else who makes a business dispute call.”

Nonetheless, Owens apologized for any dismay his actions may have caused. “I have always worked to build confidence and trust in leadership,” he said. “To our citizens and residents, it is clear that I need to work harder, and I pledge to do so.”