A Florida police officer has been suspended for writing on Facebook that a student activist who survived the Parkland massacre should be run over by a car.
Albert Arenal, the Coconut Creek police chief, announced Tuesday that he had suspended the officer, Brian Valenti, for five days without pay for posting a comment about David Hogg, a high school senior and survivor of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school. Hogg had organized Friday a “die-in” at the Publix supermarket chain over its support of a pro-NRA gubernatorial candidate.
Valenti posted he hoped “some old lady loses control of her car in that lot” under a photo of Hogg.
Valenti has since deleted the post. A union representative, Rod Skirvin, told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel the 45-year-old veteran officer was sorry for his actions.
Hogg – who has been one of the most vocal student activists for gun reform since the 14 February attack, which killed 17 people – said he respected the apology, but added that comments like Valenti’s were not helpful.
Parkland students have found themselves the target of numerous attacks as a result of their outspoken calls for gun control reform in the wake of the shooting. A digitally fabricated image of Emma Gonzalez, a fellow survivor and student activist, ripping up a copy of the US constitution has been disseminated online, while rightwing websites have spread the conspiracy theory that Hogg is a so-called “crisis actor”.
