Los Angeles Police Chief Michael Moore recommended the termination of a police officer who shared an offensive Valentine’s Day meme of George Floyd’s death.”You take my breath away,” the meme, which featured Floyd’s face, said.
With Moore’s recommendation, the unidentified officer will now be sent to a disciplinary panel, the Los Angeles Times reported. The panel will decide what the officer’s punishment, if any at all, should be since Moore does not have the authority to fire officers.
Moore said that this recommendation was the “most aggressive act” he could take in the matter and hopes that a clear message will be sent to others in the department that such behavior isn’t tolerated. He said the officer’s actions were “corrosive… to the public trust.”
National civil rights attorney, Ben Crump, who represented the Floyd family, applauded Moore’s move.
“If a person has that kind of mentality, they are not the type of people who we want with a gun and a badge, who are supposed to be protecting and serving all citizens equally,” Crump said. “We have to try to stomp out this implicit bias as much as possible, to make sure that all our citizens are given their constitutional rights.”
Crump said that the officer’s previous conduct should be also evaluated. “You have to wonder, has he treated others with disdain and we just never found out about it?” the attorney said.
The rules of the disciplinary panel, known as the Boards of Rights, state that the officer can choose to present his case in front of two LAPD officers who rank captain or higher, and one civilian or three civilians.
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