A public display of ignorance led to the firing of North Charleston police officer Shannon Dildine.
Dildine posted the above photo of himself wearing Confederate flag boxer shorts to Facebook and didn’t think anything would happen.
But it did.
After serving the force since 1996, he received a letter explaining he was terminated because it had been determined that the Facebook post would make him incapable of effectively serving as a North Charleston officer.
“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,” police chief Eric Driggers wrote. “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.”
Not only that, but the police chief said that Dildine could compromise any criminal cases involving minorities because a defense attorney could use the photo to call into question his motivation in making an arrest.
[via Post and Courier]
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