Hertz has been in the national news of late.

What's the buzz? The Estero-based company attracted unwanted media attention after one of its employees wrongly denied a customer from Puerto Rico a prepaid rental car at a Lousiana airport earlier this month.

Hertz has since apologized.

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Video goes viral

Here's what we know:

Humberto Marchand, 54, recorded parts of the tense encounter with Hertz employees on May 9, then shared it on Twitter the next day. It didn't take long for the video to catch interest.

Here's the gist of what happened: An agent told Marchand, a retired federal law enforcement officer, he could not rent a car if he did not provide a passport ― despite the fact that he's a citizen of the United States (because Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory).

He showed a Puerto Rican driver's license, but the employee told him his "out-of-the-country" license wasn't enough to complete his reservation.

The incident happened at the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport.

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Police called over the dispute

After the situation escalated, Marchand's video shows a Hertz manager asking him to leave, saying repeatedly, "I need you to go about your business," pointing him toward an exit.

When Marchand refused to leave, the manager asked if he wanted her to call the police. He replied: "Yes please, call the police."

After a police officer arrived, a bodycam video ― first obtained by a TV news station in New Orleans ― shows him as dismissive, siding with Hertz.

'Bunch of nonsense'

The officer described Marchand's arguments as a "bunch of nonsense," saying if Hertz needed a passport, it needed a passport.

"This is ridiculous," the officer complained as Marchand repeatedly tried to explain his dispute with Hertz.

Marchand told the officer he took a stand based on principle. As a longtime customer of Hertz, he insisted he'd never been required to show a passport for a car rental in the United States.

On Twitter, he complained of being treated like a second-class citizen.

Story covered by national TV, newspapers

The story got picked up by The Washington Post and The New York Times, and others.

It generated national TV coverage, including an interview with Marchand by David Begnaud, a lead national correspondent for CBS News.

Other TV outlets reporting on the story included NBC Nightly News and CNN.

After the negative publicity, both the local police department and Hertz issued apologies to Marchand, who was traveling to visit his son.

In its apology, Hertz emphasized it accepts Puerto Rican driver’s licenses from customers renting in the U.S., "without requiring a valid passport."

Hertz: 'We did not get it right'

Further, the company stated: "We sincerely regret that our policy was not followed and have apologized to Mr. Marchand and refunded his rental. We are reinforcing our policies with employees to ensure that they are understood and followed consistently across our locations.”

Hertz CEO Stephen Scherr, in a May 23 letter to Jenniffer Aydin González Colón, U.S. Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico, said the behavior of Hertz staff in New Orleans was "unacceptable."

"Our field personnel work hard to serve millions of customers every year, and we know we won't always get it right," Scherr wrote. "In this case, we did not get it right."

This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Hertz apologizes after denying a rental car to Puerto Rican customer