A police officer claimed McDonald's workers bit into his McChicken. He'd 'forgotten' he already ate it.

A police officer accused McDonald's workers of biting into his McChicken sandwich, only to realize he'd "forgotten" he took a bite earlier.

An unidentified officer at the Marion County Sheriff's Office issued a formal apology to a McDonald's in Indianapolis after he claimed employees at the store tampered with his food. 

When the officer — identified as "DJ" by Indianapolis news station WTHR-TV — opened a refrigerator at the sheriff's office to grab his meal on July 15, he found several small bites on his McChicken sandwich.

"I know I didn't eat it. No one else was around. I said, 'You know what? I am going to the McDonald's to see if they can get that taken care of,'" he told WTHR-TV.

The officer returned to the McDonald's and the shift supervisor offered him free food, according to a police statement. He refused the food, suspecting an employee had gnawed on his sandwich as a sign of disrespect.

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Earlier this summer, viral videos showed groups dumping water on New York City police officers. Meanwhile, Texas police tracked down a woman who licked a half-gallon tub of Blue Bell ice cream before putting it back in a store freezer.

“I just wanted to find out who the person was and they deal with that person in an appropriate way,” the officer told WTHR.

It turns out the person who bit into the sandwich was him.

After investigations by the Marion County Sheriff's Office and McDonald's started on Friday, police arrived at the conclusion that no McDonald's employee wanted to harm or otherwise annoy him. 

Earlier in the day, the officer had already taken a bite of his sandwich, police said. 

Blue Bell prankster copycats:Second person accused of licking store ice cream

"The employee took a bite out of the sandwich upon starting his shift at the Marion County Jail, then placed it in the refrigerator in a break room," said a statement from the Marion County Sheriff's Office to USA TODAY. 

"He returned nearly seven hours later having forgotten that he had previously bitten the sandwich. He wrongly concluded that a McDonald’s employee had tampered with his food because he is a law enforcement officer."

The officer has formally apologized to the McDonald's branch.

Follow Joshua Bote on Twitter: @joshua_bote