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Shake Shack manager sues NYPD unions for defamation following last summer’s poisoned milkshake controversy
Last summer’s viral incident of three NYPD officers incorrectly claiming that they were poisoned by milkshakes from Shake Shake’s FiDi location has taken another turn. This week, the New York Post reports that the Shake Shack manager involved in the controversy has filed a federal defamation lawsuit agains the NYPD unions who publicly claimed that bleach had been added to the officers’ milkshakes. The police department investigated and cleared Shake Shack of any wrongdoing shortly after the claims surfaced last June.
The manager, Marcus Gilliam, alleges in the complaint that the unions hurt his reputation by falsely claiming that he had mixed bleach into the milkshakes. He alleges that he was falsely arrested and detained during the incident last summer, and then harassed afterward by people at the restaurant. Gilliam is asking for unspecified damages in the lawsuit, according to the report.
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