A long-serving King County Sheriff's Office detective in Washington state is likely to lose his job over online posts mocking an incident that killed a Seattle protester. After a car slammed into protesters on July 4, Mike Brown's Facebook posts included a meme showing people being hit by a car, with the words "All Lives Splatter" and "Keep your a-- off the road," NBC reports. Summer Taylor, 24, died from her injuries the next day. The sheriff's office said in a Facebook post that an internal investigation has been completed and Undersheriff Patti Cole-Tindall has recommended that Brown's employment be terminated.
The detective also posted: "I see a couple of people got infected with Covid-19 from the hood of a car on I-5 last night." Brown—a cousin of Washington Gov. Jay Inslee—has been with the sheriff's office for more than 40 years. He has been on leave since July. Karen Koehler, an attorney for Taylor's family, tells KIRO she is glad firing has been recommended, "but it should not even be debatable." "I had to deal with the family that was grieving who had been told as they were in the hospital, their child dying, this was being posted by an officer of the law," Koehler says. "Just sorrow upon sorrow." The sheriff's office says Brown has the right to a meeting with the sheriff before a final decision is made. (More Seattle stories.)