RALEIGH, N.C. — A police officer who has been accused in the past of treating Black residents unfairly was seen making a hand symbol with white supremacist ties, sparking an investigation in North Carolina, officials said.
A photo shows Thomas Luckey, an officer with the Wadesboro Police Department, and his wife standing next to their son at a high school soccer game in Richmond County on Monday while flashing the "OK" sign, multiple news outlets reported.
In recent years, some have used the gesture, in which the thumb touches the index finger while three other fingers are extended, to symbolize white power.
Luckey was placed under investigation, officials said.
"We take matters such as these very seriously, and the public can rest assured that we will do our due diligence," Wadesboro Town Manager David M. Edwards wrote Friday in an email to McClatchy News. "As with any ongoing investigation we cannot share any other details at this time, furthermore personnel matters such as these are confidential."
Luckey told The Richmond Observer his family was not intentionally using an offensive gesture and instead was playing the "Circle Game," "where if you get someone to look below the waist, you punch them in the shoulder."
"I'm not a racist person, my family aren't white supremacists and we had to Google what it meant," Luckey said, according to the newspaper.
A Facebook user believed to be Luckey didn't immediately respond to McClatchy News' requests for comment on Friday.
In the community roughly 50 miles southeast of Charlotte, some said seeing the photo wasn't much of a surprise.
"I was so shocked that he did it so publicly," business owner Jeffery Bennett said, according to WSOC. "I wasn't shocked that he did it, because we all know his history."
Mario Melton, who is Black, said he was leaving a church service in December 2019 when he was racially profiled by Luckey, The Anson Record reported. Melton said he approached Luckey's vehicle out of concern for his nephew, who was being detained by Luckey, when the officer told him to back away. The two then started a "tussling match."
Steve Adams, a pastor who was handcuffed when he tried to intervene, criticized Luckey's actions, the newspaper reported.
"It appears each time there is an issue or complaint against the Wadesboro Police Department, there are two common denominators," Adams said. "One, African American citizens, and two, Officer Luckey."
Melton was reportedly charged with resisting an officer, but the charge was dismissed.
Wadesboro Police Chief Thedis Spencer said Luckey faced other complaints that were investigated internally, The Anson Record reported.
The officer recently went on administrative leave after a video showed him making racial slurs toward Black people, Anson County Commissioner Vancine Sturdivant said, according to WSOC.
The "OK" symbol, which was used to show approval at least as far back as the 17th century, took on a new meaning in 2017. That's when a hoax from the website 4chan indicated the placement of the fingers signified "wp" for "white power," according to the Anti-Defamation League.
"Ironically, some white supremacists themselves soon also participated in such trolling tactics, lending an actual credence to those who labeled the trolling gesture as racist in nature," the organization said on its website.
"Someone who uses the symbol cannot be assumed to be using the symbol in either a trolling or, especially, white supremacist context unless other contextual evidence exists to support the contention," the group said.
The Anti-Defamation League said "Circle Game" gestures are among those that may be mistaken with symbols that have links to white supremacy.
Luckey told The Richmond Observer he and his wife were playing the game to get back at their son for making hand signs in serious photos.
Some viewed the photo the same way, arguing the hand symbol could have several meanings.
"This is a made u look game created a long time ago by kids," one person commented on WSOC's Facebook page. "You get punched in the arm if you look. A game. Oh it also stands for OKAY!"
