Bob CollinsA Rice County sheriff’s deputy doesn’t think a racist tweet should cost him his job. Now a judge will have to decide.
Tom McBroom is appealing his demotion, which happened after his November 2017 tweets and comments about Diamond Reynolds, the woman who was with Philando Castile, the man shot to death by a St. Anthony police officer.
Reynolds received an $800,000 settlement.
“It’ll probably be gone in six months on crack cocaine,” McBroom tweeted.
In an interview with City Pages a year ago, McBroom denied that’s racist.
“I’ve seen them come to court. They’ve lost their children, but they come to court dressed to the nines with Michael Kors purses. To be frank with you, they don’t have a pot to piss in. I see it time and again and I just shake my head and say ‘why wasn’t anyone there to help.’”
An arbitrator upheld the deputy’s demotion, so McBroom is suing to get the old position back. He made his comments while off duty, so his attorney says it’s constitutionally protected speech, the Faribault Daily News says.
A hearing is scheduled in October.
