A teenager working at a Five Guys in Howell called a group of police officers “pigs” Friday night and was immediately fired, a district manager for the chain said.

The 17-year-old was working at the hamburger restaurant after a group of five Howell Police Department officers came in around 8 p.m. and he “mouthed off to them,” district manager Cortney Pechillo said.

Pechillo said she’s not exactly sure of everything that was said, but the teenage worker used “pigs” and other inappropriate terms to refer to the officers. The manager on duty Friday night called Pechillo, who said she told the supervisor to immediately fire the teenage employee.

“(It was) a stupid kid saying something he shouldn’t have,” Pechillo said. “I’ve been here 11 years and I don’t run the company this way. Immediate action was taken and we’ll go from there.”

Other employees in the restaurant, “laughed” at the employee’s insults aimed at the officers, according to a post about the incident in a Howell Facebook group. But, Pechillo said the other employees were only reacting to a nervous situation.

Pechillo, who runs the Five Guys locations in all of Monmouth and Ocean counties, said the Howell location will hold a fundraiser Wednesday for the police officers from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. All proceeds from the event will go to the Howell PBA.

Pechillo said she spoke to the chief of police Saturday morning. She also said she wrote an apology to the entire police force.

Howell Police Chief Andrew Kudrick posted a statement on the department’s Facebook page, saying he had a “meaningful” conversation with the owner and Pechillo at police headquarters Saturday morning.

“Both were genuinely upset and stressed over this incident,” he said. “They also requested to issue a public statement condemning the incident while strongly supporting law enforcement.”

Kudrick said he had lunch with Cortney and also spoke to Cesar, the manager who reportedly laughed during the exchange.

“His reaction was a result of him being uncomfortable and somewhat taken back by the employee’s conduct. He was the one who immediately notified Cortney who then terminated the employee. It was a great conversation between all of us,” Kudrick said.

Kudrick said he believed the incident was handled swiftly and appropriately, and was an isolated incident.

“It is definitely not the culture of this business. In fact, management and ownership is overwhelmingly supportive of law enforcement,” he said. “This includes not only how they handled this incident but their previous history as well.”

Brianna Kudisch may be reached at bkudisch@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @briannakudisch. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips.

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