Cops Say Post About George Floyd Was Shared by Accident

Mayor says Facebook post was 'unacceptable'
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 22, 2021 12:20 PM CDT
Cops Apologize for Anti-George Floyd Facebook Post
A woman takes a photograph of a mural with the words "I can breathe now" in George Floyd Square in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Wednesday, April 21, 2021.   (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey)

Derek Chauvin became a convicted murderer Tuesday—but somebody at a Massachusetts police department still held him up as a model of good behavior the next day. The Facebook page of the Fall River Police Department shared a screenshot Wednesday of a tweet that said, "Chauvin immediately stood and calmly placed his hands behind his back. Imagine where we'd be if George had done the same," the Herald News reports. The department apologized and said the post was made by "personnel who inadvertently re-posted an opinion that was meant for their own personal account," reports WCVB. The department said the incident is being investigated and the officer involved could be disciplined.

Mayor Paul Coogan said the "unacceptable" post "contains beliefs completely incompatible" with his hopes for the department and he has spoken to Chief of Police Jeffrey Cardoza about it. Cardoza tells the Fall River Reporter that the officer involved is "extremely remorseful, but it's a little bigger than that." "These are the kinds of attitudes that we don't want to have going on in this building," the chief says. "Every time I watch that video involving George Floyd I'm sick to my stomach, and I'm sure the vast majority of the men and women that work here feel the same way," Cardoza says. (More Derek Chauvin stories.)

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