Off-duty cop and friends go berserk in Chinese restaurant over face mask request

An off-duty Massachusetts police officer's friends trashed a Chinese restaurant after they were asked to wear face masks.

The Quincy police officer and three companions appeared to be intoxicated when they arrived just after midnight Wednesday at Ming Dynasty in Marshfield, restaurant owner Lei Yan told WHDH-TV.

“When they came in, they looked very drunk,” Yan said.

Yan said the group became belligerent when she refused to serve them drinks and got up to complain, and she said they only got angrier after they were told to put on face coverings.

“He just took his police ID, showing our whole bar, our whole restaurant,” said restaurant co-owner Jimmy Tian. “Like, 'I’m a police officer, I don’t need a mask.'”

A woman with the officer pushed a plexiglass barrier and shoved another customer, the couple said.

“She was pushing my husband and smashed my front desk,” Yan said. “It put my husband’s life in danger.”

Yan said the off-duty officer did not physically touch anyone during the confrontation, but the woman knocked Tian's phone from his hand when he attempted to call 911.

The couple declined to press charges in the incident, but the officer and the woman were served a trespass notice, police said.

“I was crying for two days because I felt hurt," Yan said. A police officer should stop the criminal.”