A high-ranking Williams police officer has lost his job after a dispute over a meal.

Accounts of what happened vary, with two restaurant employees saying the off-duty officer threatened to arrest them over some chicken, and the officer saying he did not.

The Williams police chief, Herman Nixon, said the officer was fired for using his position and authority for personal gain, by attempting to get a refund on the meal.

“Right after it happened, I stripped him of his police powers,” Nixon said.

Williams Police Lt. Michael Graham, who formerly ranked second-in-command in the department, said he plans to file a wrongful-termination lawsuit over his July 28 firing, and that his restaurant complaint is a real case of fraud that the police ignored.

“He ordered some chicken that we didn’t have available at that moment,” during a July visit, said Tavi Padilla, the restaurant manager on duty at the time at a Williams KFC/Taco Bell.

Another manager offered another type of chicken and a voucher for a free meal later during the July 9 visit. But Graham wanted his money back, which is against store policy, according to Padilla.