Lindsay Deutsch

USA TODAY Network

After fiery criticism, Chipotle Mexican Grill has released a statement about a "spontaneous, unplanned action" in which an employee raised his hands in a "hands up, don't shoot" protest when nine New York police officers entered a Brooklyn location of the popular burrito chain.

In the statement, Chipotle co-CEOs Steve Ells and Monty Moran apologized to the officers involved in the incident, as well as "many of the people who have contacted us regarding the issue."

News of the employee's actions went viral Dec. 17 when Ray Melendez, a man who claims on Facebook to be a former NYPD officer, wrote a post that "an officer involved at the incident" told him that "several" employees "raised their hands and said 'hands up, don't shoot' to the officers," according to many news sources including The Guardian.

The post is now deleted.

The Chipotle statement details that the company has reviewed the incident, which occurred Dec. 16 close to 6:15 p.m., "including interview with the crew and a review of video footage from security cameras."

The review gleaned that the action "was not a coordinated effort by the staff" and that the officers were not refused service — "but instead chose to leave after encountering this gesture while still waiting in line."

The "hands up, don't shoot" gesture has become a ubiquitous symbol of protest after the Aug. 9 killing of Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager in Ferguson, Mo. The gesture has played a prominent role in demonstrations against police brutality across the nation.

Ells and Moran say they are not at liberty to discuss what happened with the employee, and finish the statement with a recommitment to serving officers:

"We have proudly served law enforcement officers in our restaurants around the country for the last 21 years and we continue to do so every day."

According to food blog Eater, Chipotle originally posted an apology on its Facebook page, which elicited several angry comments.

While the post is no longer public, several patrons have expressed their outrage in the "reviews" section of Facebook, which received an influx of one-star reviews after the incident became public:

"I would never eat and or promote a business that promotes and or excepts hate. Allowing your employees to say such disrespectful comments to an Police Officer and not apologizing says you agree with such bigotry. SHAME ON YOU," Trisha Lee wrote in her review Sunday.

"The corporate apology to the public and the NYPD regarding the incident involving one of your employees and 9 officers just isn't good enough. I will never eat at Chipotle again... It isn't the same quality as circa 2005 any way," wrote Ambre Dun in a review Monday.

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