A police officer in North Charleston, South Carolina has lost his job over offensive underwear, Charleston's Post and Courier reports.
In a week where the debate over the Confederate battle flag was reignited across the U.S., with politicians calling for it to come down, and stores (both brick-and-mortar and online) pulling it from their shelves, Sgt. Shannon Dildine chose to put on his rebel flag boxers and take a photo for Facebook.
So the department fired him.
The newspaper quoted the termination letter to Dildine from the police chief:
"On Tuesday ... the City learned that you posted on Facebook a photograph in which you were wearing only a pair of boxer shorts emblazoned with the image of the Confederate flag. Your posting in this manner led to you being publicly identified as a North Charleston Police officer and associated both you and the Department with an image that symbolizes hate and oppression to a significant portion of the citizens we are sworn to serve.”
Dildine, a nearly 20-year veteran of the force, has 10 days to appeal the firing.
