FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. _ A police officer has been removed from road patrol while he's being investigated in connection with Facebook posts that suggested the Parkland school massacre could be a hoax, police said Monday.
North Miami Beach Police Officer Ericson Harrell has been reassigned to administrative restricted duty with pay, until the Police Department's investigation is over, said police spokesman Maj. Richard Rand.
One of the Facebook posts under the name of Harrell asked, "What proof do you have? What evidence do you have, that anyone was killed other than #MSM accounts, alleged witnesses and a couple of funeral processions?"
The department's internal affairs investigation began Friday after inquiries from the South Florida Sun Sentinel.
Harrell could not be reached for comment Monday, though the Facebook page with his name on it acknowledged this weekend that his department is reviewing the matter.
"Well, if you haven't heard already, I'll be standing in front of the man because of my questioning the the (sic) Parkland narrative!!" the Facebook entry said.
A March 22 Facebook post referred to the five Parkland students featured on the cover of Time magazine as "paid actors/actresses," including student Cameron Kasky.
Kasky's father, Jeff Kasky, said he was friends with Harrell two decades ago. Kasky, an attorney who is also a certified police officer, said Harrell was the class leader in his police academy class in 1998.
Kasky said Harrell served as a Marine who was a "talented person."
"I am disappointed that my old friend has fallen into this conspiracy theory subculture," Jeff Kasky said Monday. "He is smarter than that, and he knows how to reach me if he wants to talk to confirm that my child is indeed a real person and not a paid actor."
