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A San Diego County sheriff’s deputy who circulated an offensive meme within the days following the homicide of George Floyd by the hands of Minneapolis police has been fired.
Based on paperwork posted on the Sheriff’s Division web site this week, former deputy Mark Ritchie was dismissed after dropping his closing attraction to the county civil-service fee.
Ritchie was a longtime division veteran who texted the racist and sexual meme to 5 colleagues in late Might 2020, simply days after Floyd was killed by a police officer who knelt on his neck for greater than 9 minutes.
Sheriff’s Division information present Ritchie was drunk on the time he despatched the picture from his private cellphone to his colleagues’ private gadgets.
The meme was rapidly circulated and ultimately made its option to the command workers, which opened an inner investigation inside days and located that Ritchie violated quite a few division insurance policies.
“By disseminating the derogatory image of George Floyd, Deputy Ritchie displayed acts that might be thought of by the group as acts of racial insensitivity, poor judgment and racial bias,” one investigator wrote.
“The implications of his actions could have a longstanding impact on the Sheriff’s Division and its staff,” one other concluded.
The image at subject was a photoshopped model of the infamous picture of Floyd being restrained by former officer Derek Chauvin, who was subsequently convicted of homicide, however Chauvin’s picture is changed with that of a unadorned African-American man.
The picture had been broadly circulated on the web.
Ritchie was employed by the Sheriff’s Division in 2000 and his closing day of employment was in January 2021. He was final assigned to the George Bailey Detention Facility.
In 2006, Ritchie was cleared by the District Lawyer’s Workplace of any wrongdoing in a Vista taking pictures the prior 12 months that ended within the demise of Jorge Ramirez.
A follow-up report from the state Lawyer Common’s Workplace upheld the findings by then-District Lawyer Bonnie Dumanis but in addition stated the 22 rounds Ritchie fired throughout a foot pursuit “can’t be justified as self-defense.”
The sheriff’s inner assessment of the Floyd meme concluded that Ritchie engaged in unbecoming conduct, immoral conduct and discrimination.
The previous deputy additionally failed to fulfill division requirements for conduct set for sheriff’s staff, the investigation concluded.
Almost 100 pages of information associated to the investigation have been launched by division officers on Monday below SB 1421, which requires public disclosure of details about police and sheriff’s deputies discovered to have violated legal guidelines or insurance policies.
The division additionally posted photographs of textual content messages exchanged between staff and information reviews of the picture Ritchie shared as soon as that turned public.
Ritchie’s lawyer argued that the deputy shouldn’t be terminated as a result of, amongst different issues, he had no historical past of disciplinary points and solely shared the Floyd picture privately and through his off hours.
“When questioned by Inside Affairs, Deputy Ritchie took full accountability for what he did,” the reviews quote lawyer Bradley Fields as saying. “Whereas intoxicated he despatched a meme from his non-public mobile phone to different members of the division on their non-public cell telephones.
“Deputy Ritchie admitted it was fallacious and has apologized for his actions,” the lawyer added.
Ritchie was initially beneficial for a 30-day suspension.
However then-Assistant Sheriff Anthony Ray overruled that call and opted for termination.
“I discovered the frequent info provided in mitigation was to attenuate Deputy Ritchie’s actions and to shift the blame to others,” Ray wrote to then-Sheriff Invoice Gore in late 2020. “I discovered no info enough to alleviate my disciplinary advice.”
Gore, who retired in mid-term earlier this 12 months, agreed with Ray’s evaluation and proceeded with the termination. A county Civil Service Fee continuing ended final November with the termination order being upheld.
Ray was named appearing sheriff till voters resolve Tuesday between Undersheriff Kelly Martinez and former San Diego metropolis prosecutor and police officer John Hemmerling.
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