A Kansas police officer “fabricated” a story that a McDonald’s employee wrote “fucking pig” on his coffee cup over the weekend, Herington Police Chief Brian Hornaday said during a press conference Monday. “We found that McDonald’s and its employees did not have anything whatsoever to do with this incident,” Hornaday said at a press conference. “This was completely and solely fabricated by a Herington police officer who is no longer employed with our agency.” The chief concluded that the incident “was meant to be a joke” and that the unnamed officer, who had only been with the department for two months, “should have come forward immediately... prior to this becoming a nationwide incident.”

Hornaday originally claimed the officer had been given the coffee cup with an expletive written on it at a McDonald’s in Junction City, Kansas, in a now-deleted Facebook post. Dana Cook, the owner of the McDonald’s, said in a written statement after the allegation was made that the store had video showing it couldn't have been an employee. “My McDonald’s have the utmost respect for all members of law enforcement and the military and were troubled by the accusation made,” Cook said in the statement. “We thoroughly reviewed our security video from every angle, which clearly shows the words were not written by one of our employees.”