KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Staffers at the Gus’s World Famous Fried Chicken restaurant in Kansas City, Kansas, said fallen deputy Elijah Ming was a regular customer before he died.
He would stop by to eat with fellow deputies, usually once a week, staff told FOX4.
He liked to sit at the same table and in the same chair. Now, a picture of deputy Ming is on display in that corner of the restaurant.
“He was just a really good guy, always smiling,” said Traci Ellis, the general manager at Gus’s.
“He would sit with his back against the wall in this chair because he would always want to see people when they walked in and make them feel comfortable as they’re coming in and not intimidated. He wanted to be the first one that they see with a smile on his face.”
In response to Deputy Ming’s tragic death, the restaurant decided to offer free meals to law enforcement officers through July 31.
Ellis said last week, a member of the Wyandotte County Sheriff’s Office stopped by with the picture of Ming to put on display near his favorite table.
“He just came in to give me the picture one day last week, and it really tear jerked me up,” Ellis said.
She said Ming became a friend to many restaurant staffers – including Luis Vasquez, a server, who challenged Deputy Ming to foot races behind the restaurant.
“He’s (Luis) like, ‘I bet you I can beat him (deputy Ming),'” Ellis recalled. “And I was like, ‘I don’t think so.’
“He’s like, ‘Yeah, he’s got all that gear on.’ I was like, ‘I don’t think so.'”
Ming accepted the challenge. The races were recorded in videos that Ellis, Vasquez and other restaurant staffers now look back at with fond memories.
Vasquez said Ming shifted his view of law enforcement.
“I grew up around people who thought cops were bad people,” he told FOX4. “So that’s the first label, I guess, that I had for him was a bad cop. Then, after I got to know him during the first race, that’s when I realized, ‘okay, he’s respectable, he’s not as bad as cops seemed.’
“Then he kind of put an imprint on me that cops weren’t actually bad. They’re regular people. They do their job like how I’m doing mine.”
Ellis and Vasquez were able to attend Deputy Ming’s funeral on Monday.
“We went up there and held up his picture and represented Gus’s for him,” Ellis said. “When somebody imprints in your life like that, no matter how tough you are, you’re going to tear up.”
“I wanted to give my regards to his wife and his kid,” Vasquez added. “I’m sorry that happened to you guys. And I do hope you guys do find happiness.”
Ellis said first responders and law enforcement officers are close to the management team at the Gus’s World Famous Fried Chicken location at 2816 W 47th Ave in Kansas City, Kansas. The restaurant will continue offering its discount for law enforcement officers in Ming’s honor through the end of the month.
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