Beeping kitchen thermometer in dumpster at Texas Roadhouse restaurant was found to be the cause. However, Boynton police say that 'it's better to be safe than sorry.'

BOYNTON BEACH — Officials evacuated a Boynton Beach Texas Roadhouse and the south end of the city's mall Thursday night after a “suspicious item” was reported.

Boynton Beach Police Department Capt. Paul Deale said a call came in at 7:41 p.m. from a Texas Roadhouse employee who heard beeping in the restaurant's dumpster.

The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office bomb squad and Hazmat arrived on the scene. Deale said no injuries were reported and the beeping device was a battery-operated kitchen thermometer.

"It's better to be safe than sorry," Deale emphasized. "We have to take it to the highest protocol."

The restaurant staff had been on alert after a similar suspicious item call came in from another Texas Roadhouse. No injuries were reported there, either.

Boynton diners and more than 25 Texas Roadhouse staff members scattered out to the mall parking lot and were there for at least an hour before the bomb squad gave the all clear, they said.

Philip Durand and his fiancee, Cindy Febre, said they were waiting for their steak dinners when they saw restaurant employees stampede out of the kitchen.

“I look, and I see everyone frantically running for the door,” Durand said. He said the shock set in as he watched first-responder vehicles arrive.

Febre said while the idea of a suspicious item threat took away her breath, she was relieved nothing happened to diners and staff.

“What could’ve happened to all of us,” she wondered.

esullivan@pbpost.com

@emsulliv