Johnstown restaurant owner apologizes after "crass" comments about Westerville
COLUMBUS, Ohio — The owner of Rt. 62 BBQ in Johnstown apologized for what he called a "crass and inappropriate comments" that's caused a backlash from angry customers.
Brad Jalovec tweeted his frustration having to watch a golf tournament on a split screen as news broke of the death of two Westerville police officers.
"I made a post that was pretty insensitive," Jalovec said. "I own that completely and there's no excuse for it whatsoever."
He said he regretted not thinking about how others would be hurt by what he wrote.
"Just said something off the cuff more along the lines of how frustrated I was to once again come in and see a tragedy developing on live television," he said. "It was totally inappropriate for me to react in that fashion. However, that post does not represent who I am by any means."
Johnstown may be about a half-hour drive from Westerville, but there are people there who are mourning. The video board outside Thorpe Automotive asks for the community to pray for the fallen officers.
"I just wanted to ask for help for the families," said Austin Thorpe, the owner of Thorpe Automotive. "It wasn't about me at that point. It was about coming together with the community."
Thorpe happens to be from the same town as one of the officers killed.
"It's just hard to picture somebody's family having to go through that," he said.
Word spread quickly around the community about Jalovec's tweet. Some locals said they don't plan to go back.
"This man has the opportunity to have the business that he has because police officers do what they do in making us safe," said Ken Grimes who said he's been to the restaurant before. "I've not been for a while but now no. No reason to, I can go elsewhere."
Jalovec said he's going to donate to the GoFundMe account set up for the officers' families. He said it was the least he could do.
