Shameful, callous, hateful and sad. That’s where this one will be filed: Captain Jamie Marquardt, an Emergency Medical Services (EMS) supervisor in Cleveland, Ohio, was fired last week for Facebook posts related to Tamir Rice. Cleveland’s Office of Integrity Control began an investigation when the posts surfaced on Marquardt’s Facebook page last Monday. By Friday morning, he had been booted out.
"The posts were not acceptable and do not represent the views or standards of the City of Cleveland administration, Department of Public Safety or Division of Emergency Medical Services," [City of Cleveland spokesperson Dan] Williams said.
Williams would not provide details on the content of the post.
Williams did not provide details of what was posted, but several others did.
“Tamir Rice should have been shot and I am glad he is dead,” Marquardt’s post read. “I wish I was in the park that day as he terrorized innocent patrons by pointing a gun at them. I am upset I did not get the chance to kill the little criminal (expletive).”
Cleveland tv station Fox-8 provided details too. You can view the broadcast of their story, here.
According to The Daily News:
Marquardt insisted … that he had never made the comments about Tamir.
"I did not do it," Marquardt said. "I presented evidence to the city of Cleveland that I did not do it. They fired me simply because it was on the news. They have no evidence I did this."
Uh huh.
In January of this year, a Cleveland cop was suspended for his Facebook posts calling Samaria Rice, Tamir’s mother, a vile and ugly name and alleging she only wanted money for her son’s death.
It hasn’t been two weeks since another cop in Ohio was let go because of the inappropriate dumb stuff he said on Facebook after a young Black Lives Matter activist committed suicide. And let’s not forget about the cop who encouraged folks to run over Black Lives Matter activists in Minneapolis.
While Congress shall not abridge the right to freedom of speech, you also can’t yell “fire’ in a crowded theater. In other words, “freedom of speech” means “watch what you say … especially on social media when you are a public servant and where you may embarrass your employer.” Exactly what is it about that these folks don’t seem to understand?