COCKE COUNTY, Tenn. — A Cocke County school resource officer lost his job for posts he made on Facebook.
The sheriff relieved Deputy Randy Cutshaw after an investigation lasting less than one day after the 10News team brought the social media posts to the attention of the sheriff's office.
The posts shocked and alarmed many members of the community, causing some to wonder if they could trust Cutshaw to protect their students at school.
Some posts made by Cutshaw were made during school hours, included one photo of a monkey with racist stereotypes, and another that called Black Lives Matter “a racist group."
One post compared George Floyd, a Minnesota man who died at the hands of police, to the devil. It read, “George Floyd was not a saint; in fact, he was a bad man."
The school resource officer finished the post by saying, “If we are going to glorify George Floyd and put angel wings on him in pictures let’s just go ahead and glorify satan."
Stewart Harris, a law professor at Lincoln Memorial University, said that the department has every right to discipline him for the posts.
“A government employer can discipline its employees when they act inconsistently with their job duties,” said Harris.
Channel 10 showed the Cocke County Sheriff’s Office several posts from that deputy. The sheriff immediately launched an internal investigation.
Within hours, Sheriff Armando Fontes released a statement saying, “Randy Cutshaw is no longer employed by the Cocke County Sheriff’s department.”
He also noted that the department does not endorse the statements made by Cutshaw.
“If he claims a first amendment right to free speech, the answer will be, 'Yes you still have one, but you do not have the right to act inconsistently with your job duties. You do not have the right to undermine faith in the impartiality of the sheriff’s office,'” said Harris.