An Ohio sheriff’s lieutenant found himself in hot water after several of his recent social media posts stated he would refuse police services to residents who vote for Kamala Harris in Tuesday’s election.
Despite his inflammatory rhetoric, John Rodgers, a 20-year veteran of the Clark County Sheriff’s Office, was able to keep his job as a Road Patrol Supervisor after blaming his prescribed sleep medication for making the “out of character” remarks.
The allegations against Rodgers emerged last week after he made several Facebook posts indicating he would take political affiliation into account when responding to emergency calls from the community.
“If you support the Democratic Party, I will not help you,” Rodgers stated just days before the presidential election, implying his support for Republican nominee Donald Trump.
The comments sparked outrage on Facebook, with users sharing Rodgers’ posts more than 250,000 times to highlight his unprofessionalism and political bias toward citizens in his own community.
When confronted, Rodgers told supervisors, “I do not remember writing these posts or deleting any posts,” according to an inter-office communication obtained by news station WHIO.
Rodgers has since received a written reprimand for violating the department’s social media policy, but he remains on duty without any further discipline.
The Sheriff’s Office also issued an apology for Rodgers’ behavior, promising to collaborate with him to help shift his fascist point of view.
The department appeared to excuse Rodgers’ behavior by suggesting a potential medical issue, yet failed to clarify how they would address this matter moving forward.
Internal reports indicate that Rodgers is prescribed an unspecified sleeping medication, which he stated often results in communication that is “out of character,” citing this as a documented side effect.
Rodgers’ incendiary comments were met with immediate criticism for eroding public trust in law enforcement, with social media users emphasizing that his statements echoed tactics used by authoritarian regimes to instill fear in those with opposing viewpoints.
Rodgers allegedly shared posts that stated, “I am sorry. If you support the Democratic Party, I will not help you,” and another that said, “The problem is that I know which of you supports the Democratic Party, and I will not help you survive the end of days.”
In another post, Rodgers asserted that individuals would need to “provide proof of who you voted for” before he would consider rendering aid.
Eventually, Chief Deputy Mike Young became aware of the incendiary posts and issued a statement acknowledging that he found Rodgers’ comments highly inappropriate. Young emphasized that these remarks did not represent the Sheriff’s Office’s commitment to serving all residents equally, regardless of their political affiliations.
