A Clark County sheriff's deputy has been fired after admitting to publishing racist tweets. A concerned citizen saw the posts on Twitter and realized they belonged to a member of local law enforcement.
Tuesday night, Clark County Sheriff Gene Kelly says he received an email containing social media posts from one of his deputies, Zachary Davis, that were made in late April. The posts encouraged the use of deadly force against protesters in Baltimore along with racist language to describe African-Americans.
Sheriff Kelly confronted Davis about the posts this morning and fired the deputy after a brief meeting.
"I found that this is conduct that I shall not tolerate and I terminated him at 10:35 a.m. He turned in all of his equipment and left the building thereafter," Kelly said.
The Montgomery County Sheriff recently fired two deputies and suspended three others for making racially insensitive remarks in text messages. Clark County Sheriff Gene Kelly said it's important to send a message that racist behavior from a law enforcement employee will not be tolerated and swift action is needed when an officer is guilty of misconduct.
"Only 87 other people in Ohio, who are the other 87 sheriffs, understand and know the demands of this job, it is a job like no other. We represent the community," Kelly said. "The sheriffs of Ohio are elected by the people of the community and they know me and they know what I'm about and they have an expectation that I will do the right thing. I feel that the right thing was to immediately terminate him from employment."
Zachary Davis was sworn in on April 13, 2015 by the Clark County Sheriff’s Department. Sheriff Kelly says Davis cannot appeal his termination because he was still a probationary employee. Davis didn't return calls seeking comment for this story.
