A vice president of Baltimore’s police union has been suspended after sending an email to the entire department that referred to demonstrators as “thugs.”
Police Lt. Victor Gearhart was referring to a group protesting the state Fraternal Order of Police conference at a downtown hotel.
Department spokesman T.J. Smith said Police Commissioner Kevin Davis was “outraged by the email.” Smith said the message “is not representative of the men and women of this agency.”
This is not the first time Gearhart has been disciplined for his online comments. He was reassigned from patrol to security this year after engaging in arguments with activists on social media. With the support of the union, he sued alleging that his reassignment was an unconstitutional violation of his right to free speech.
Gearhart could not be reached for comment Tuesday. A woman who identified herself as his wife told The Associated Press to contact a union attorney, who did not immediately return a phone message.
(AP)
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5 Responses
This guy has got to know that in Obama’s times this type of reality description of the facts are a crime hence his dismissal.
Poor Mr. Gearhart! He should have been told that Freedom of Speech must coincide with that which is politically correct or else you will be banned or fired!
It may be true that the people who riot are thugs, but to say such a thing!? How could he?
He flunked Politics 101. As any civil servant can tell you, if my boss’s (i.e. the politician who lords over you) supporters are bunch of violent miscreants, they are merely outraged citizens whose righteous indigination caused them to get a wee bit out of line. My boss’s opponents and their supporters, on the other hand, are thugs. The people in question are good Democratic voters, and thus while they might be considered “thugs” in any red state, from the point of view of those who run things in Baltimore, they are NOT “thugs”.
Shame on YWN for using this photograph. The FOP protest was peaceful.
Moderators Note: Ok Dr. Hall. Calm down.
Moderator!! if you have a comment to say, log in as a personal user!! dont respond as a MODERATORS NOTE! its just not professional.
But anyway its pretty funny how they put that picture and then tried to convince me they were protesters and not rioters.totally negated the whole article (or long caption-whatever you want to call these tidbit news YWN does:) )!