The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Police officer gets ‘Black Lives Matter’ note with doughnuts

- By Ben Brasch ben.brasch@ajc.com

A simple box of doughnuts for a Smyrna cop tapped into a national debate about race and police.

When the officer received an order Wednesday from the Krispy Kreme on South Cobb Drive, the phrase “Black Lives Matter” was written on the box.

“While it is clear this behavior was egregious in nature, Krispy Kreme did take responsibi­lity for the incident,” Louis Defense, Smyrna Police Department spokesman, said in a statement.

The department said it received a letter from the North Carolina-based corporatio­n apologizin­g for the incident.

The pro-police blog Blue Lives Matter first posted a photo of the box, condemning the action along with the Black Lives Matter movement.

“For those who are not aware, this is extremely disrespect­ful to law enforcemen­t,” read the blog.

Krispy Kreme staff at the store met with Smyrna police to hash out the issue.

“We moved quickly to investigat­e the matter and take appropriat­e action,” said corporate spokeswoma­n Sarah Roof. “As a company, we value both our customers and employees and respect all viewpoints. The experience did not live up to these high standards we set for ourselves.”

She said the company will use this opportunit­y to “train the staff at all of our U.S. shops to reinforce mutual respect between employees and customers.”

Krispy Kreme said its policy is not to disclose the specific actions taken in disciplina­ry investigat­ions.

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