NEW ORLEANS (AP) - The New Orleans Police Department said an officer was fired for racially insensitive social media posts he wrote during national protests this year against racism and police brutality.
New Orleans Police Sgt. Anthony Edenfield was terminated Friday, the department said in a statement. The firing happened six months after the department stripped him of his duties and launched a probe into the posts.
The department didn’t provide details about Edenfield’s social media posts. But screenshots of the posts that were circulated on Facebook included one comment that said “these idiots want to act like animals,” The Times-Picayune / The New Orleans Advocate reported.
“I am running them over, and shooting if lethal force were my only way out,” the comment said.
Another comment was posted in response to a New York Times writer’s assertion that destroying property is not violence because it can be replaced.
The department’s statement said the posts “were determined to be racially insensitive and inappropriate.”
“Activities that threaten the public trust in the New Orleans Police Department are unacceptable,” Department Superintendent Shaun Ferguson said. “Our officers are held to a higher standard, and this type of behavior cannot and will not be tolerated.”
Edenfield’s attorney did not respond to a request for comment by the newspaper Saturday.
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