A Brooklyn court officer, Terri Pinto Napolitano, has been suspended for 30 days without pay after she posted to Facebook a photo of former President Barack Obama hanging from a noose.
Napolitano posted the manufactured images of Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton over the weekend. A caption that accompanied Obama’s image was “your day is coming traitor”.
For the image of Mrs. Clinton, Napolitano captioned, “It’s not over till the fat lady sings”. All the images have been deleted.
Speaking on the matter, New York Chief Judge Janet DiFiore described Napolitano’s actions as “abhorrent” especially “at this critical moment in our history.”
“When our nation is reeling from the death of George Floyd and its aftermath — it is a sickening and unpardonable offense against every colleague in our court system, as well as the vast and diverse public we serve,” added Judge DiFiore.
Napolitano’s actions come as protests across the United States go into the the third week since Floyd was killed in Minnesota by a now-dismissed officer Derek Chauvin.
Meanwhile, in the wake of the incident and protests, the Minneapolis City Council has confirmed that the police department will be disbanded and later replaced with a new system of public safety in a historic move following the death of Floyd.
Speaking at a rally on Sunday, nine members of the council declared their intent to “dismantle” and “abolish” the embattled police agency responsible for Floyd’s death.
“We are committed to dismantling policing as we know it in the city of Minneapolis and to rebuild our community a new model of public safety that actually keeps our community safe,” Council President Lisa Bender told CNN.
