MARSHALL, Ark. (AP) - The police chief of a small Arkansas city has resigned after posting online threats of violence that targeted Democrats.
Marshall Mayor Kevin Elliott said in a statement Saturday that Police Chief Lang Holland had resigned effective immediately.
Elliott said the city “strongly condemns” Holland’s posts. He said the community doesn’t “in any way support or condone bullying or threats of violence to anyone of any political persuasion.”
Holland made the comments on Parler, a right-wing site similar to Twitter, and they were no longer viewable as of Saturday evening, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported.
In his posts, Holland echoed President Donald Trump’s baseless allegations that the election wasn’t fair and that “illegal” votes were counted, the newspaper reported.
In one post, Holland said that when seeing a “Marxist Democrat” in public, one should “get in their face and do not give them peace.” He continued: “Throw water on them at restaurants. Push them off sidewalks. Never let them forget they are traitors and have no right to live in this Republic after what they have done.”
Another stated: “Death to all Marxist Democrats. Take no prisoners leave no survivors!!”
Holland also shared an illustration that included Democratic leaders, including former President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, wearing orange prison-style jumpsuits, the paper reported.
“I pray all those in that picture hang on the gallows and are drawn and quartered!!!!” he wrote. “Anything less is not acceptable.”
Holland had been police chief in Marshall, a city of about 1,300 in the Ozarks, for the past two years, Elliott said.
A home phone number for Holland couldn’t be found.
Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, a Republican, told the newspaper on Saturday that Holland’s comments were “dangerous” and that Holland’s departure would be merited.
Holland was among a number of police chiefs and sheriffs in Arkansas who said they wouldn’t support Hutchinson’s statewide face mask requirement aimed to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
After Hutchinson signed the order in July, Holland called it an unconstitutional overreach and said he wouldn’t make his officers wear masks.
At the time, Holland, who said he supported President Donald Trump, said: “All I’m saying is if you want to wear a mask, you have the freedom to choose that. It should not be dictated by the nanny state.”
Holland was among a number of police chiefs and sheriffs in Arkansas who said they wouldn’t support Hutchinson’s statewide face mask requirement aimed to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
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