Chaz Foy was sworn in as a Marion Police Department officer on Monday, June 5. However, he was quickly fired on Wednesday, June 7, after he was exposed for sharing racist social media posts that included him making fun of George Floyd’s killing.
According to the Indianapolis Star, a news release stated that the Marion Police Department was on Tuesday made aware of the social media posts Foy allegedly shared on his Facebook account. The posts in question were labeled as “racist” by Marion Chief of Police, Angela Haley, after she examined them herself. She also said they violated Marion Police Department’s standards.
“I do not condone this type of behavior and will not tolerate it,” said Haley in a news release. Foy is said to have shared those posts on his Facebook page before the Marion Police Department hired him.
In one of the posts that Foy shared on June 1 last year, he wrote: “With gas hitting 4.89 and climbing, let’s all take a moment to appreciate better times.” The image Foy attached to the post was that of former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin placing his knee on George Floyd’s neck.
Floyd, 46, lost his life after Chauvin knelt on his neck for over nine minutes despite the Black man repeatedly telling him that he couldn’t breathe. Floyd’s death on May 25, 2020, sparked protests both within and outside the United States in what was a year of racial reckoning. Chauvin, who is White, later received a 22 and half-year prison sentence after he was found guilty of murder and manslaughter.
The second post that Foy shared on his Facebook account on April 13, 2021, was a caricature of a Black man with the name “Martin Looter King,” per the Indianapolis Star.
