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Home · News

Video Shows Chili’s Manager Taking Away Free Meal From Army Veteran: ‘You Questioned My Military Service?’

Chili’s is admitting it “fell short” when a store manager allegedly took a free meal from an Army vet on Veterans Day.
Video Shows Chili’s Manager Taking Away Free Meal From Army Veteran: ‘You Questioned My Military Service?’
By Char Adams · Updated October 26, 2020

This article was originally published on PEOPLE.

Chili’s is admitting it “fell short” when a store manager allegedly took a free meal from an Army vet on Veterans Day.

Ernest Walker posted a Facebook video of the incident in which, he said, a manager at a Chili’s Grill & Bar in Cedar Hill, Texas, snatched his free Veterans Day meal from him after questioning both his military service and his service dog.

“I looked around and I’m embarrassed at this point,” Walker told NBC New York. “People are looking. I’m a soldier. I’m a person. I’m a person and everybody’s looking like I stole food.”

In the video of the altercation, Walker is heard asking, “Are you questioning my service dog? ” and “Did you see my military information, yes or no?”

Walker told Fox 4 that he showed the manager his discharge papers and his driver’s license.

In a Facebook post, Walker said he believes another customer who was wearing a Trump shirt doubted his service and went to the manager.

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“He said, ‘Well, I was in World War II in Germany and they didn’t have any blacks over there then,’ ” Walker told Fox, adding that he was confronted by the manager soon after.

“He says that we have guests that say you are not a legitimate military veteran,” Walker recalled.

Walker detailed the story alongside the Facebook video, and the footage has been viewed more than 300,000 times.

In a statement to PEOPLE, officials with Chili’s parent company, Brinker, said they’ve apologized to Walker for the “unfortunate experience” and thanked him for his military service.

The officials added that the manager has been “removed” from the restaurant. Walker said he plans to file assault charges against the manager who made contact with his as he took his meal away, CBS News reports.

He told CBS that he wore an Army uniform without his name or rank on it so he would not be mistaken for an active-duty soldier.

Kim Cole, an attorney for the veteran, told CBS that she planned to meet with officials from Chili’s parent company, Brinker, on Monday.

“I certainly hope that Brinker International takes a stand and makes it clear that they don’t condone that type of behavior in their establishment,” she said.

Brinker officials issued the following statement to PEOPLE: “Our goal is to make every every guest that walks into our restaurants feel special and we fully own that one of our restaurants fell short on an important day where we strive to honor our veterans and active military for their service. We took swift action and immediately removed our manager from the restaurant. We are now in the process of working with Mr. Walker on a resolution that promotes trust and healing.”

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