GRAND RAPIDS, Mich– Stella’s Lounge in Downtown Grand Rapids issued a statement on its Facebook page Thursday, apologizing for an incident earlier in the day when an armed, on-duty police officer was asked to leave.
In the statement, Stella’s wrote an employee asked the officer to either leave his firearm in his car or take his food to go. They say the officer chose to leave.
The restaurant also said a manager had misunderstood their firearms policies.
Stella’s says while it does have a policy in place that prohibits guns, citing it’s an establishment where people drink alcohol, they say that policy has never included law enforcement.
Stella’s said after learning about what happened, they personally reached out to Grand Rapids Police Chief David Rahinsky to apologize and reviewed policies with its employees. The restaurant also thanked law enforcement for all they do.
The Grand Rapids Police Department responded that Barfly, the company that owns Stella’s, immediately reached out to the department to apologize and assured the staff would receive the appropriate training. The department says they understand that mistakes and misunderstandings happen.
The Gerald R. Ford Metro Lodge #97 of the Fraternal Order of Police posted this statement:
