An assistant police chief in Estherwood, Louisiana has resigned after posting a racist meme to his Facebook page.
The post is of a cartoon White mother pushing her daughter face down in the bathtub with a caption that reads “When your daughters first crush is a little Negro boy.” Local news affiliate KATC declined to release the officer’s name but social media posts identified him as Wayne Welsh.
Welsh later removed the post and posted an apology later in the afternoon. “Well, I posted something on Facebook that made a lot of people mad,” he wrote. “Well, I’m sorry for what happen. Ya have a blessed day.”
But before he issued the apology, Welsh spent most of the defending the post.
“It’s not against the law to share something on Facebook. It’s social media. Internet.” He also posted about people labeling him as a bag guy and pulling the “race card.”
Welsh’s public Facebook page reportedly includes several posts about guns and the deaths of law enforcement officers. He allegedly also wrote disparaging posts about women in burqas and former first lady, Michelle Obama.
Estherwood Chief Ernest Villejoin Sr. apologized for the actions of his officer and said he would bring up the officer’s Facebook post at next week’s city council meeting. “I didn’t know anything about it until 10 this morning. A woman called from Houston to tell him about it. I apologize for the post. It is too soon to say if there will be any disciplinary action at this time.”
However, the Estherwood City Hall members have declined to address the issue at the city council meeting.