Two South Carolina National Guardsmen “found shards of glass baked into the dough and cheese” of a pizza they ordered to the DC Marriott Marquis via Uber Eats, the Charleston, South Carolina, Post and Courier reported Wednesday.
Captain Jessica Donnelly of the South Carolina National Guard told the Post and Courier that the soldiers didn’t eat the pizza, that they were fine, and they’d reported the incident to the police. A spokesperson for D.C.’s police force, however, says “It appears this incident was not reported to the Metropolitan Police Department.”
Reached by email, Donnelly tells Washingtonian, “I do not know what police department they would have called, if they did. It would be local to D.C.” When informed the local police had no record of such a report, Donnelly replied, “Just spoke to the command. Again, the soldiers were advised to file a report. If they chose not to, then there wouldn’t be a report.” Donnelly hasn’t replied to a request to speak to the soldiers, their commanders, or for any additional information that would help identify what restaurant allegedly delivered such a dangerous product. After we first published this article, the Post and Courier updated its story to say Donnelly told it the soldiers had only been advised to make a report to police.
It’s true that the presence of National Guard troops in DC during the protests was not especially popular with locals. It remains unclear, however, how any homicidal pizzeria would know its product would be delivered to Guardsmen based on their hotel information, especially when the order came through a third-party app.
Washingtonian then attempted to contact nearby pizza restaurants to inquire whether they’d heard about this incident. &pizza’s two nearby shops were closed during the protests. A spokesperson for All-Purpose Pizza says it didn’t receive any such complaints and would have followed up on such a serious report. In addition, the spokesperson says, All-Purpose does not deliver via Uber Eats.
Did the soldiers report the alleged glass in their pizza to Uber Eats? A spokesperson for Uber tells Washingtonian the company has been unable to locate any such complaint based on the scant information in the story.
A spokesperson for Domino’s has not yet replied to a request for comment, and multiple attempts to contact either a national spokesperson or manager at the nearby Sbarro were completely fruitless.
Washingtonian will update this story as we learn more.
Andrew Beaujon joined Washingtonian in late 2014. He was previously with the Poynter Institute, TBD.com, and Washington City Paper. He lives in Del Ray.
