Fla. deputy suspended for Ferguson comments


Karl Etters, 

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- A Wakulla County Sheriff's Deputy was suspended Wednesday after posting insensitive comments on social media following a Ferguson, Missouri, grand jury's decision not to indict a police officer in the killing of a black teen.
WCSO Deputy Richard Moon was suspended with pay pending the outcome of an internal investigation, Sheriff Charlie Creel said.
Creel said the incident is not indicative of his department as a whole.
"Very insensitive remarks have been made and we're going to get to the bottom of it," Creel told the Tallahassee Democrat. "I don't condone these kinds of actions. We treat everybody equally, and if somebody does not treat somebody equally, I will discipline them."
Moon wrote the following post on his Facebook page: "Damn cockroaches! Squashem all !!!! I say we rally for Wilson (the officer in Missouri), who's with me?"
Several other deputies, including Undersheriff Trey Morrison and Deputy Jeff Carroll, also commented in the same thread, but have not been suspended.
Carroll posted the following comment: "I'm already in tally, get it going! Haha."
Creel said he would implement another round of training on racial diversity within the department. That training is already standard.
"Expressing an opinion about something on social media is certainly the right of the individual when they are off duty," Creel wrote in an open letter, "but in no way do these views expressed in the posts reflect the opinion of the Sheriff's Office or the members of this agency."
Morrison shared a nationally syndicated political cartoon meant to comment on rioters and looters destroying their own communities. It depicts an African American male in a black T-shirt labeled "Ferguson Missouri." He's holding a gun to his head, and the gun is labeled "Violence." He has on a black ball cap with the word, "Loot" on it. The man is saying, "Back off or the community gets it."
Morrison said civil protesting is not what he took issue with, instead it was the widespread violence and vandalism following the decision.
"I'm not against anybody protesting," Morrison said. "My frustration is that one percent that always takes it too far and wants to destroy property."
Morrison added that Creel is right to take issue with the deputies' comments.
"I shouldn't be commenting on anything," he added.
Creel said the internal affairs review would include interviews with Moon to determine if the comment was "malicious or if it was intentional or aggravated," and would move forward after that.
Vice President of the Florida State Conference of the NAACP Northern Branch Dale Landry said the cockroach comment is negative and demeaning to a large number of people.
"That's a very demeaning comment," said Landry, who was a police officer for 21 years. "How many people down in Wakulla would also fall under what he calls a cockroach?"
Landry said Moon's comments and Morrison's contribution, instead of stopping the posts, reflect poorly on WCSO.
"Very seldom do you see the bad cops catch the hell," Landry said. "It's always the good cops that respond, it's always the good cops that fall behind the foolishness of the bad. This right here is so problematic because it's a direct reflection on Sheriff Creel."
Landry said the national and state branches of the NAACP are coordinating a town hall meeting in Wakulla County. The meeting is scheduled for 1 p.m. Friday at New Bridge Hope Missionary Baptist Church, 1282 Spring Creek Highway in Crawfordville.
Community members in Wakulla have been working to establish an NAACP branch there, which may be expedited by the incident, Landry said.
With attention focused on police and citizen interaction both locally and nationally, most law enforcement officials recognize the comments as not OK, Landry said.
"There's a small subculture," he said. "When it shows its head, we've got to be effective immediately to eliminate it so it doesn't continue to poison the majority that are doing a great job that are professional."
Creel said he hoped the swift action and internal review would bring Wakulla County together.

"We're going to get through this," Creel said. "We're going to come together as a community. It's going to make everybody stronger."