A police officer from Kaplan, Louisiana has been fired after he suggested it was "unfortunate" more black people haven't died from the coronavirus. As local CBS affiliateKLFY reported, officer Steven Aucoin wrote the racist comment on a live Facebook chat by Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards.
Kaplan's police chief Joshua Hardy said Aucoin's comments are unacceptable; he was fired following an investigation. "We're held to a higher standard than normal civilians, so you got to watch what you do, you got to watch what you say," Hardy said. "You can't just go and post anything you want on social media."
One user commented, "Virus that was created to kill all the blacks is death," to which Aucoin replied, "Well it didn't work." He followed up with a separate comment; "How unfortunate."
Louisiana native Joshua Brothers, who is both a firefighter and an army veteran, suggested Aucoin's comments might have been taken out of context. "The newest update [to Facebook] doesn't put the comments in consecutive order like it used to," he said. "It's not a timeline thing. Relevant, newer comments might be above. Some comments aren't listed at all."
Hardy said that the department investigated the comment thread entirely, and added, "There were some comments that were further up that was not suitable for a police officer to put up on Facebook." His termination was announced by the Kaplan Police Department on May 15.
