Texas cop placed on paid leave for supermarket shooting spree Facebook threat
A police officer in central Texas has been placed on paid administrative leave while investigators consider whether a recent Facebook posting by the cop in which he discussed massacring food stamp recipients violated departmental policy.
According to KWTX News, Marlin Police Sgt. Rob Douglas already admitted that he authored a rant on his public Facebook profile last week mocking “the useless turd bags” he encounters at the grocery store on the first of the month — the day that public assistance, like welfare checks and food stamps, are usually made available to the needy.
“The first of the month! The day I absolutely LOVE going to the grocery store after putting in 120+ hours last month,” Sgt. Douglas wrote. “I love being able to see how the useless lazy turd bags spend the hard earned money my working friends and I provided for them so they can sit on their lazy asses all month and drink the beer I am paying for.”
Douglas went on to ridicule the “thousands of dollars” in tattoos and car rims he believes are bought with taxpayer money, then issued a grim warning that has made some residents of Marlin, TX quite uncomfortable.
“I promise, if I ever snap and go on a killing spree, it will be in a supermarket on the first,” the officer ended his Facebook post.
“Being a law enforcement officer, I mean, even if you thought it, some things you just don’t say,” Marlin resident Doris Springer Piper told KWTX, adding that was shocked and appalled to see the rant appear on a social media page of a person responsible for protecting the community.
According to the network, many of the residents they spoke to about the web posting expressed concern about possible racial and violent undertones, and that the diatribe seemed to be targeting African Americans.
“We want to make sure that the citizens know that post itself does not reflect the views of the attitude of the Marlin Police Department,” Marlin Police Chief Daryl Allen told KWTX on Monday this week.
R.C. Fletcher, the city manager of the town of roughly 6,000, told the Waco Tribune-Herald that his office has been made aware of the post as well and, according to the paper, Fletcher has said there are no plans to involve the Texas Rangers in the investigation because the officer doesn’t appear to have done anything illegal. That isn’t to say Douglas is out of hot water just yet, however: the Tribune reported that MPD policy prohibits officers from using the internet to hard the credibility of the department with “statements or other forms of speech that ridicule, malign, disparage or otherwise express bias against any race, any religion or any other protected class of individuals.”
If the investigation concludes that Douglas violated the social media policy, then he could be referred to counseling or possible be terminated.
Neither the Tribune now KWTX could reach Douglas for comment, but both outlets reported that the officer has employed by the MPD for the last five years. In the meantime, how much of that half-decade career was spent working 120-hour months as advertised on Facebook — well below what’s considered full-time employment — is unknown.
