A lieutenant from an Ohio Sheriff’s Office is making headlines after some of his social media posts piqued the public’s interest.
According to WHIO, John Rodgers, a Clark County Sheriff’s Office Lieutenant for over 20 years, made multiple Facebook posts that drew a lot of criticism for himself and the Clark County Sheriff’s Office.
Some of the posts, shared over 250,000 times, urged Rodgers to consider a caller’s political preference when responding to emergency calls, according to reports.
According to the news outlet, several of the posts read, “I apologize. If you support the Democratic Party, I will not help you,” and “The problem is that I know which of you supports the Democratic Party, and I will not help you escape the end of the world.”
According to WHIO, Rodgers stated in another post that people would be required to “provide proof of who you voted for” before providing assistance.
Chief Deputy Mike Young issued a statement to the television station, saying, in part, that the office feels the comments made were highly improper and do not reflect the Sheriff’s Office’s delivery of service to all people, regardless of political preferences. He promised that the station and Lt. Rodgers would try extra hard to earn the public’s trust.
A medical condition could potentially motivate Rodgers’ conduct.
WHIO obtained an investigative file and determined that in an inter-office email with superiors, Rodgers said, “I do not remember writing these posts or deleting any posts.”
The document also reveals that Rodgers received a prescription for sleeping medication, about which he wrote: “It does cause some of my communication to be ‘out of character,’ which is a documented side effect.”
According to WHIO, the Sheriff’s Office apologized for Rodgers’ actions and stated that he received a written reprimand for breaking the department’s social media policy. He will stay on duty.