Detroit Food Truck Owner Causes Controversy for Refusing to Serve Police

The owner of a food truck in southwest Detroit is the focus of controversy after she advertised her refusal to serve police.

The original Facebook post from Sept. 7 has since been deleted, according to Fox News. The post contains a picture of a sign that said: “We reserve the right to refuse service to cops,” according to a screenshot on an article from The Detroit News. Text accompanying the post indicates the owner has consulted with the National Lawyers Guild about the legality of the issue.

Food truck owner, Rocky Coronado then created another post, which she says is in response to criticism about her policy. In the post, she talks about an incident of refusing to serve people who came by who she thought were law enforcement officers.

Coronado said she told the potential customers that she was closed, thinking they were law enforcement and hoping they would leave without further questions. When they came back she told them she doesn’t serve law enforcement.

Coronado sells tacos and coffee from her Rocky’s Road Brew  truck. She complained that after she refused service, the potential customers took photos without permission and became “belligerent.”

The owner continued in the Facebook post, saying things like “I am well aware that my very being is a threat to Amerikkka and its lineage of genocide, fragility, and hate. My very existence is my resistance and just like my ancestors, I am resilient.”

According to WXYZ, a source said a rescue driver for the humane society was refused service for looking like law enforcement.

“She has clearly shown disdain for police; the million-dollar question is: Why? We‘d like to know what the issue is, and would like to sit down and talk to her about her concerns,” Detroit Police Chief James Craig told The Detroit News. “I don’t agree with what she’s putting on Facebook, but if she ever needs help we’ll give her the same service we'd give anyone else.”

Business Residents Respond

A longtime business owner in the area who has a restaurant next to the lot where the food truck operates holds a different view about police.

“I’m like Big Brother on the block, I guess you could say. I was here before most of these new businesses came up, and I’m from my neighborhood. And I actually was like ‘Hey Rocky, you should kind of calm down a little bit,’” said George Azar.

Azar thinks the local police deserve praise for the job they do in that part of Detroit.

“Here, southwest [Detroit] should be a case study for how to police in this country,” said Azar. ”All the police here, they’re all community-based. They actually stop in and say hello, how you doing.”

Since the incident, reviews for the business on Facebook, Yelp, and other sites have been full of arguments over politics.

Detroit Police Officers Association President Mark Diaz suggested Coronado is following an anti-cop movement.

“It’s really just a small segment of society, but these squeaky wheels make the most noise, and they criticize everything police do,” Diaz said, according to The Detroit News.

In the second post Coronado said she’ll be closed, but will let her Facebook followers know when she will open back up after “self care near home.”

From NTD.tv