Sheriff’s lieutenant apologizes for ‘won’t help Democrats’ post and blames sleeping pills

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio sheriff’s patrol commander who said on Facebook that he would not help Democrats and would require proof of who a person voted for before helping them has apologized, blaming prescribed sleeping pills for causing them to become the reason for his “uncharacteristicness”. » actions.

Lt. John Rogers, a 20-year veteran of the Clark County Sheriff’s Office in Springfield, made the statements in several Facebook posts: VIO-TV reported.

“I’m sorry. If you support the Democratic Party, I will not help you,” Rogers allegedly wrote in one post. Another said: “The problem is, I know which of you support the Democratic Party and I will not help you through end of days.”

The sheriff’s office said Rogers, who commanded the department’s highway patrol, will remain on duty with a written reprimand for violating the department’s social media policy.

“We’ve been in this battle for the last several months, with attacks on the Haitian community and other immigrants, and we stand up for people’s rights and don’t support the opposite behavior,” Mike Young, the county’s chief deputy. , told Springfield News-Sun. “I can’t go back in time and remove this post; The lieutenant took this post and received consequences for it.”

Former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, and his running mate J.D. Vance thrust Springfield into the national spotlight with false statements – some were made during nationally televised presidential debate – that the city’s Haitian immigrants ate domestic dogs and cats. Springfield is located in southwest Ohio between Columbus and Dayton.

Clark County Elections Director Jason Baker said Rogers was not scheduled to attend the county elections office Tuesday night, but the sheriff’s office still plans to send other officers there to provide security during the vote count.

“I think the public should still be safe as the Clark County Sheriff’s Department and the Springfield Police Department operate,” he told The Associated Press. “We are all fighting for the same result: a peaceful day.”

The sheriff’s office said in a statement that the posts do not reflect the mission and values ​​of the office.

“It is clear that while these comments are highly inappropriate, they are in no way a reflection of the Clark County Sheriff’s Office’s service delivery to our ENTIRE community,” the statement said. “The community has a right to be upset by Lt. Rogers’ actions, and he, like the Sheriff’s Office as a whole, will have to work even harder to restore the trust of our community members.”

Rogers formally responded to the reprimand by writing a letter in his personnel file that he did not remember writing or deleting messages, and was warned about this when a colleague asked if he was okay. Springfield News-Sun reported. Rogers wrote that he didn’t find them on his page when he searched, and that he first saw them during a meeting with a department official.

Rogers said he sometimes takes prescribed sleeping pills, which as a side effect may cause him to send “uncharacteristic” text messages, phone calls or other forms of communication. The lieutenant said that as soon as he learned of the messages Tuesday, he deactivated his Facebook account and stopped taking his medication, the newspaper reported.

Clark isn’t the only Ohio county facing conflicting statements from law enforcement officials on social media.

The U.S. Department of Justice’s election monitoring operation is located in Portage County, in northeastern Ohio, to ensure the county’s compliance with federal voting rights laws during early voting and on Election Day.

This is after Portage County Sheriff Bruce Zuchowski, a Republican, was charged last month with voter intimidation. Zuchowski, who is running for re-election, posted on social media that people with Kamala Harris yard signs should write down their addresses so immigrants can be sent to live with them if the Democrat wins the presidency.

Following the comments, the Portage County Board of Elections voted to eliminate the use of sheriff’s deputies for election security this year.

Asked at a news conference Monday about how the two cases might affect voters’ sense of safety, Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose said some law enforcement officials, especially when they’re running for office, can sometimes make comments that are “rash”. “

“But this in no way concerns the dedicated sworn deputies who work for them,” he said. “These are dedicated people who are lawyers and women first. They vowed to do this. They risked their lives to do this, and I have every confidence that they take this duty very seriously.”

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