A fast food manager falsely accused of poisoning cops' milkshakes with bleach is suing the NYPD officers for defamation

• A Shake Shack manager falsely accused of poisoning NYPD officers' shakes is suing.
• The false accusations happened last year, and the NYPD later found "no criminality" in the incident.
• The manager, Marcus Gilliam, says the incident has tarnished his reputation.

The manager of a New York Shake Shack who was falsely accused of poisoning New York Police Department officers' milkshakes with bleach is suing the officers and NYPD unions.

Marcus Gilliam filed the lawsuit on Monday against the Police Benevolent Association (PEA), Detectives' Endowment Association(DEA), unnamed NYPD officers, and the City of New York.

In the lawsuit, he says the accusations of milkshakes being poisoned tarnished his reputation. On June 15, 2020, the three officers - who were monitoring anti-racism protests- entered a Shake Shack location in Manhattan where Gilliam was working to pick up their milkshakes that they ordered through an app, according to the lawsuit.

However, a few minutes later the officers disposed of their drinks due to the taste, the lawsuit said. The officers then approached Gilliam about their milkshakes and they were given vouchers for the inconvenience.

"Since the orders were placed using a mobile application, and not in person, Mr. Gilliam and the other Shake Shack employees could not have known that police officers had placed the order," the lawsuit says.

The officers accused him of putting a "toxic substance," or bleach, in their milkshakes, resulting in a crime scene at the fast-food restaurant. Gilliam and his co-workers were detained.

The trashed milkshakes were tested, and bleach was not detected, according to the lawsuit. In addition, the three police officers said they were hospitalized after consuming the "substance" inside their beverages, but were later discharged after not showing symptoms, the lawsuit said.

During the investigation and a review of surveillance cameras at the Shake Shack, there was no evidence of any restaurant employee tampering with the drinks, the lawsuit said.

A police sergeant during an interrogation asked Gilliam, who maintained his innocence, "when did you add the bleach?"

The lawsuit also alleges that an NYPD lieutenant contacted the police unions, PEA and DEA, about the false accusations.

The unions then published tweets about the incident on social media, leading people to contact Gilliam about the allegations. The lawsuit said the defendants were "were grossly irresponsible in disseminating the tweets."

After the investigation, the NYPD ultimately found "no criminality" on behalf of the Shake Shack employees in the incident last year.