Ohio sheriff’s lieutenant who said he ‘won’t help Democrats’ issues apology, blames medicine

An Ohio sheriff’s patrol commander who declared on Facebook that he would not help Democrats and would require proof of who a person voted for before giving them help has apologized and blamed prescription sleeping pills for causing his actions to be “out of character “.

Lt. John Rodgers, a 20-year Clark County sheriff’s veteran, where Springfield is the county seat, made the statements in several posts on Facebook, CBS affiliate WHIO-TV reported. In one post, he allegedly wrote: “I’m sorry. If you support the Democrats, I won’t help you.” Another said: “The problem is that I know which of you support the Democratic Party and I will not help you survive the end of days.”

Another post indicated that people should “show proof of who you voted for” if they asked Rodgers for help, the station reported.

The sheriff’s office said Rodgers, who has commanded the department’s highway patrol, would remain on duty with a written reprimand for violating the department’s social media policy.

“I know I can’t apologize enough and my apologies may seem empty, but I will continue to apologize as long as necessary,” Rodgers said in the paper. statement obtained by WHIO-TV. “I know it will be difficult for the public to trust me, but I will do everything in my power to begin to repair that trust. I apologize from the bottom of my heart and will ensure that our community will always serve the best of my ability and striving to do better I will assure the citizens of our community that I have always treated everyone with dignity and respect regardless of our differences and will strive to show them that I can make it better.

Clark County has been in the spotlight since Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump stepped up false claims that Haitian immigrants in Springfield were eating people’s dogs and cats.

A sheriff’s statement said the positions do not reflect the office’s mission and values.

“It is understood that while these comments are highly inappropriate, they in no way reflect on the Clark County Sheriff’s Office’s delivery of service to our ENTIRE community,” the statement said. “The community has every right to be outraged by Lt. Rodgers’ actions, and he, as well as the Sheriff’s Office in general, will have to work even harder to rebuild the trust of members of our community.”

Rodgers formally responded to the reprimand, writing in a letter in his personnel file that he doesn’t remember writing the posts or removing them, and was alerted to them when a colleague asked if he was OK, the Springfield News-Sun reported. Rodgers wrote that he did not find them on his site when he searched for them, and that the first time he saw them was during a meeting with a department official.

Rodgers said he sometimes takes a prescribed sleep aid that can cause him to send “out of character” texts, phone calls or other forms of communication as a side effect. The lieutenant said that as soon as he heard about the messages on Tuesday, he deactivated his Facebook account and stopped taking the medication, the newspaper reported.

“We’ve been in this fight over the last few months with the attacks on the Haitian community and other immigrants, and we protect people’s rights, and we don’t support the behavior to the contrary,” Mike Young, the county’s chief deputy, told the newspaper. “I can’t go back in time and take that post away; the lieutenant did the post and he’s had consequences for it.”

Clark isn’t the only Ohio county dealing with controversial statements made by law enforcement officials on social media.

The U.S. Justice Department said its election monitoring efforts will include Portage County, where a sheriff was accused of intimidating voters last month, to ensure the county complies with federal voting rights laws during early voting and on Election day.

The department’s announcement came after the Republican Sheriff Bruce Zuchowskii posted on social media that people with kamala harris yard signs should have their addresses written down so immigrants can be sent to live with them if the democrat wins the presidency.