A South Carolina volunteer fire chief resigned on Friday (April 30) after posting to Facebook that police should “stop responding to black neighborhoods,” and that “they will eventually kill each other.”
Former Lancaster County Fire Chief Francis Ghent made the post on April 22 –– a day after police in Elizabeth City, North Carolina fatally shot Andrew Brown, Jr.
“Dear Police, stop responding to these black neighborhoods. They will eventually kill each other and fake news won’t have a story,” Ghent wrote.
County officials found out about the social media post and placed Ghent on suspension pending an investigation. The former leader of the McDonald Green Volunteer Fire Department turned in his letter of resignation.
“I realize this has placed the department in a poor light and continues to cause mistrust and controversy in the community we all serve,” Ghent wrote in his resignation letter, according to a report by the Rock Hill Herald. Ghent worked with the fire department for 40 years, the outlet reported.
Ghent offered an apology to the Black community on two occasions last week, asking for forgiveness and stating that he was trying to take a shot at the news media.
“I guess it was racially insensitive. I did not mean it that way” Ghent said in an on-air apology on Tuesday (April 27) on WBTV.
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