A police sergeant with the St. Paul, Minnesota Police Department has been placed on indefinite leave after some of his online postings came to light.
Sgt. Jeffrey M. Rotheker, posting under the name JM Roth, decided to go on the Minnesota Cop Block Facebook page, and when he posted an incredibly racist note, he was spotted by Andrew Henderson, the co-administrator of the page. In reference to Black Lives Matter protesters, Rotheker wrote:
Henderson presented his evidence to Internal Affairs which proved that “JM Roth” is actually Rotheker. He also recorded his meeting with investigators and can be heard telling them:
“You know, a police officer shouldn’t be advising people to run over other people for just standing in the road. That’s not reasonable to me. I don’t know if that’s reasonable to you.”
Sgt. John Wuorinen, in response to Henderson, remarks:
“It wouldn’t be reasonable to, I would think any person, any decent person.”
The department later announced that a full investigation is underway and also released a written statement saying that “swift, strong and decisive disciplinary action will be taken” if it is proven that Sgt. Rotheker did indeed post the message on Facebook. The department added:
“The statement (posted) is offensive, disappointing, concerning and does not reflect in any way — or align with — the views, values and practices of the St. Paul Police Department.”
In 2014, a St. Paul man struck a 16-year-old girl in Minneapolis who was protesting the death of Michael Brown. Her leg was broken. The man paid a $575 fine and was ordered to complete a traffic education course.
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