An auxiliary officer with the Fairview Park Police Department, who had written that black people should be "exterminated," resigned from the force last week.
The Cleveland Scene first reported that Aaron McNamara had a position as a volunteer officer as he finished his college degree and prepared for a full-time job on the force. But those plans were derailed when comments he had made on the Internet over the last two years came to light.
According to the Scene, McNamara like to hang out in the YouTube comment area, where he was caught "regularly dropping racial and gay slurs, unambiguously expressing hatred towards minorities and anyone who dare not comply with what police say."
For example, "jungle monkeys" and "spooks" were some of the milder slurs the officer used for African-Americans.
"Abolishing slavery was the worst thing we could have done," McNamara opined. "These people should be exterminated.. Unbelievable."
On a video of a man on a bicycle being tackled by officers, McNamara wrote that the suspect deserved it "BECAUSE THE FEMININE FAGGOT WAS ELUDING THE POLICE AND FAILING TO STOP! DUMB ASS GENERATION!"
In late November, the auxiliary cop argued that it was "absolutely ridiculous that the police are criticized" for killing Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old boy who was holding a toy gun.
When the Scene initially confronted McNamara about the social media message, he insisted that it must have been another person with the same name.
"I'm not the only Aaron McNamara in this world," he asserted.
But minutes later, McNamara had made his Twitter account private, he shut down his Instagram account, and deactivated his YouTube and Google+ pages.
In a statement, Fairview Park Police Chief Erich Upperman said that the city "does not tolerate this type of conduct from any person working or volunteering for this city."
"This is the first we are hearing of this and it will be immediately and appropriately investigated. During his brief tenure with our agency, the volunteer never displayed any prejudicial leanings, nor did any arise during his background check," the chief noted.
On Friday, WEWS published McNamara's letter of resignation.
"The comments I made in those particular videos were a product of my youth and immaturity; by no means am I a prejudice [SIC] individual," he declared. "I am an advocate for equality, and I am highly disappointed in myself for the statements I had previously made. I cannot recollect the most recent comment I was accused of making in February 2014, but I am not denying the claim."
