A New Jersey police officer who wrote that Black Lives Matter demonstrators are “terrorists” who “hate” police officers was fired from her job.
Hopewell Township Police Officer Sara Erwin’s job was terminated via a unanimous vote last week after they accepted the recommendation of a hearing officer that she be fired, reported NJ.com. Police officer Mandy Grey was also demoted and suspended for replying to a comment on Erwin’s June 2020 post on Facebook.
“The fact that she supported her position as a fellow officer, that was the reason that they actually suspended her,” their attorney, Frank Crivelli, said of Grey, according to the New York Post.
Erwin had posted in June of last year—during the height of nationwide Black Lives Matter demonstrations, riots, looting, and arson incidents after the death of George Floyd—that her children told her not to go to work.
“I don’t think I’ve ever felt the way I did last night,” Erwin’s post had read, according to the NY Post. “And then I watched people I know and others I care about going into harms way. I love police family like my own.”
“I’ve seen so many black lives matter hashtags in these posts,” her post added, the Post reported. “Just to let you know—they are terrorists. They hate me. They hate my uniform. They don’t care if I die.”
Erwin spoke out about her firing on Wednesday in an interview with Fox News.
“I had friends, family, tons of people reaching out, text messages, phone calls, reaching out through messenger, checking on me and making sure everything was OK cause they were seeing so many things in the news,” Erwin said. “I felt it was easiest to put what I was feeling and get a message out there that I was home [and] I was safe,” she continued.
Erwin added that she “was worried about other officers” that she knew in other areas—in the midst of the riots.
Crivelli, speaking to the NY Post, said that he believes the town’s decision to fire her was politically motivated.
“They’re trying to make an example out of them, and in my view, they’re pandering to the far left,” he said.
Hopewell Township Police Director Robert Karmazin, who took over the department last fall, told the paper: “As the matter is in active litigation, the Hopewell Township Committee, the Hopewell Township Police Department and the Hopewell Township staff will have no further comment at this time.”
The Epoch Times has contacted Hopewell Township for comment.
