Police officer quits after comments about Obama

[Locutus]

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - A Jacksonville police officer has quit after admitting he told colleagues that he would volunteer to assassinate President Barack Obama.

Sam Koivisto told the Florida Times-Union (Jacksonville cop making threatening comments after election not only bad behavior | jacksonville.com ) on Wednesday that his comments had been blown out of proportion and that he'd planned to retire in five months anyway.

The 57-year-old retired earlier this month while facing an internal investigation into his comments to other officers after the election. He told them that if an order came to kill Obama, he "wouldn't mind being the guy."

When questioned by the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office integrity unit, he said he also didn't care if a nuclear explosion killed everyone in the Northeastern U.S because they supported Obama. He told the investigators his comments were hyperbole and not actual threats.


Police officer quits after comments about Obama - DC Breaking Local News Weather Sports FOX 5 WTTG

 

[Goober]

A perfect example of the problems within US political discourse-

 

[SLM]

An inappropriate comment to begin with. Definitely inappropriate from a police officer as far as I'm concerned.

Wish someone dead all you want, but you open your mouth about you cross a line.

 

[gopher]

30 years in the Big House for that traitor!

 

[damngrumpy]

The problem is much bigger than that. Republicans and especially Crackers, Tea Party and
Born Again Christians believed Obama was beaten. They were ready to party into the night.
The problem is they were too uniformed (lets be kind) to understand that the big red map was
showing rural America not the reality of America. The urban areas were very heavy Obama
and most don't see numbers on a map.
They suddenly witnessed the outcome and many were in shock, they couldn't believe they lost.
In addition many believed Jesus was going to deliver them from Obama and he didn't. That is
witnessed by the evangelical pastoral messages telling people that Jesus was still with them.
The problem was the political right was not prepared for defeat only for victory and that didn't
happen. Its not surprising that people were so uptight, they could not accept the event that had
just overcome them. This guy was no different except he was in a position of trust as a police
officer.

 

[JLM]

The problem is much bigger than that. Republicans and especially Crackers, Tea Party and
Born Again Christians believed Obama was beaten. They were ready to party into the night.
The problem is they were too uniformed (lets be kind) to understand that the big red map was
showing rural America not the reality of America. The urban areas were very heavy Obama
and most don't see numbers on a map.
They suddenly witnessed the outcome and many were in shock, they couldn't believe they lost.
In addition many believed Jesus was going to deliver them from Obama and he didn't. That is
witnessed by the evangelical pastoral messages telling people that Jesus was still with them.
The problem was the political right was not prepared for defeat only for victory and that didn't
happen. Its not surprising that people were so uptight, they could not accept the event that had
just overcome them. This guy was no different except he was in a position of trust as a police
officer.

I wouldn't have thought intelligence would have been divided along political lines, maybe Republicans are just much more prone to "foot and mouth" disease.-

 

[grumpydigger]

To me this is more about right-wing deep South redneck law enforcement . This man was obviously somewhat mentally unbalanced in his beliefs about society . but yet as a law enforcement officer he was put in charge to control it.

Religious zealot and prejudice run deep in the southern United States.

 

[CDNBear]

To me this is more about right-wing deep South redneck law enforcement .

Really?

To me it was about some ticked off dude mouthing off. I hear this sort of silly shyte at least once a week from any number of races, differing careers paths, or religious types.

This man was obviously somewhat mentally unbalanced in his beliefs about society .

Not really.

but yet as a law enforcement officer he was put in charge to control it.

Police don't control society, they enforce rules laid out through legislation.

Religious zealot and prejudice run deep in the southern United States.

Really?

ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (AP) — President Obama was declared the winner of Florida's 29 electoral votes Saturday, ending a four-day count with a razor-thin margin that narrowly avoided an automatic recount that would have brought back memories of the 2000 election.

Florida finally finishes vote count; Obama wins

Any other erroneous claims you think need to be made?

 

[B00Mer]

i just wish some people were less talk and more action... . 8O

more drama for FoxNews... lol

Sorta surprised the lady who ran over her husband didn't offer to do the deed...

 

[karrie]

I'm just surprised. With the Americans I hear talk like that, they usually couch it with 'my brother says he'd offer', or 'you know what my cousin likes to say about ____', rather than offering the opinion up as their own.

 

[#juan]

What is outrageous here is that a policeman, who is supposed to be a respectable, honorable, tower of
strength, is spouting off that he will volunteer to shoot an elected president. Respectable? honorable? bull****!
The guy is a moron. I remember when JFK was shot. Heretofore, assassination was something left for banana
republics where it was easier to shoot somebody than hold another election. Certainly not in the land of the free
and the home of the brave.

 

[karrie]

What is outrageous here is that a policeman, who is supposed to be a respectable, honorable, tower of
strength, is spouting off that he will volunteer to shoot an elected president. Respectable? honorable? bull****!
The guy is a moron. I remember when JFK was shot. Heretofore, assassination was something left for banana
republics where it was easier to shoot somebody than hold another election. Certainly not in the land of the free
and the home of the brave.

Assassinations and Attempts in U.S. Since 1865 — Infoplease.com

 

[#juan]

I know there were others, McKinley and Garfield etc but they were a long time ago. When Kennedy was shot
I knew there had been others but didn't remember them.

 

[JLM]

I know there were others, McKinley and Garfield etc but they were a long time ago. When Kennedy was shot
I knew there had been others but didn't remember them.

If I remember correctly some crooked shot took a crack at F.D.R.

 

[petros]

Sofa king wee Todd did.

 

[gopher]

damngrumpy,

The problem was the political right was not prepared for defeat only for victory and that didn't
happen.

Exactamundo. The arrogant right wing is so full of themselves, that they believe the lies from the delusionals in the Fox network and Rasmussen in defiance of all the polls which projected the opposite of their numbers. In their delusional mindlessness, they cannot conceive of anyone daring to stray from their mysticism and dogmatism. The problem often is that for too long people blindly accepted this delusionalism as fact. But in recent years people have finally awakened to the truth about their stupidities and have seen that 30 years of Reaganomics has failed to trickle down wealth into the majoritarian public. To me, the real question remains, why did it take so long for people to awaken and to open their eyes to this fact?

 

[shadowshiv]

An inappropriate comment to begin with. Definitely inappropriate from a police officer as far as I'm concerned.

Wish someone dead all you want, but you open your mouth about you cross a line.

Sort of like the idiot NHL player (Dave Bolland) did when he wished Gary Bettman dead.

 

[SLM]

Sort of like the idiot NHL player (Dave Bolland) did when he wished Gary Bettman dead.

Yes, it's absolute stupidity to make a public statement like that. Reign in your frustration and use some sense.

 

[shadowshiv]

Yes, it's absolute stupidity to make a public statement like that. Reign in your frustration and use some sense.

Just because you're in a lockout doesn't mean you should speak what you think in public. All it could do is cause you to end up being in trouble with the law(uttering threats, depending on how you said it).

 

[SLM]

Just because you're in a lockout doesn't mean you should speak what you think in public. All it could do is cause you to end up being in trouble with the law(uttering threats, depending on how you said it).

Well I don't think uttering threats, even in jest, is covered under freedom of expression anyway. While it may not result in legal troubles per se, it could get you fired from your job. Look at the woman making an obscene gesture in front of that war memorial statue, she was expressing herself, she lost her job. I can't imagine that a police officer, like in the OP, would not lose his job after uttering such a thing, again even in jest, against the president. It doesn't matter what you think about the president, or any public figure, you do not offer to be the 'trigger man' and not expect consequences.