Louisiana cop is fired for saying its 'unfortunate' more African American people didn't die of coronavirus

A Louisiana cop has been fired hours after posting a Facebook comment where he said it was 'unfortunate' more black people didn't die of coronavirus.

Steven Aucoin, an officer of the Kaplan police department, was commenting under a local news station's live feed of a press conference being given by John Bel Edwards, Louisiana's governor. 

The chief police officer of the town, Joshua Hardy, explained how his now ex-officer commented under the news feed that was being run by KLFY News. 

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Left: In response to a commenter claiming the virus was 'created to kill all the blacks', Kaplan police officer wrote 'well it didn't work... how unfortunate'. Police chief Joshua Hardy said on closer investigation, other comments were found by Aucoin that were 'not suitable for a police officer to put up on Facebook'

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The racist Facebook comments were posted under a live stream of a press conference being given by John Bel Edwards Louisiana's governor

Aucoin was responding to another commenter who wrote, in broken English: 'virus that was created to kill all the BLACKS is death.'

'Well it didn't work,' Aucoin wrote in reply, 'how unfortunate,' according to screenshots of his comments that have been shared widely online. 

In an announcement on Facebook, the Kaplan Police Department wrote: 'We are writing this to inform everyone that we were made aware of the situation with the comments on Facebook from Steven Aucoin. 

'Chief Hardy had the incident looked into and the officer was terminated. Chief Hardy and the Kaplan Police Department would like to apologize for this matter.'

Chief Hardy was also interviewed by KLFY News, who broke the story upon being made aware of the comments under their live feed.

'We're held to a higher standard than normal civilians, so you got to watch what you do, you got to watch what you say. You can't just go and post anything you want on social media,' Hardy said. 

A Louisiana native, Joshua Brothers, also a firefighter and army veteran, told the outlet that it's possible Aucoin's comments could have been taken out of context due to a recent Facebook update in which not all comments appear in chronological order.

When asked about this possibility, Chief Hardy said that when they looked into the issue, they found other comments by Aucoin that were 'not suitable for a police officer to put up on Facebook.'

In order to prevent this from happening again, Hardy said that he has notified his officers of the social media policy at the precinct that was updated when he arrived in office.

The police department were praised on Facebook when they announced the termination of Aucoin's employment. 

One user, posting under the name Ang Garcia, said: 'Thank you for that swift action. I hope this department and others continue to follow this example. 

'I also hope other organizational factors that encourage or permit the existence or growth of racism within the department are being addressed as well. It takes us all.'

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Pictured: Kaplan Police Department chief - Joshua Hardy. Hardy said that police officers are 'held to a higher standard than normal civilians', and fired Steve Aucoin for his racist comments on Facebook

The Kaplan Police Department posted an update on May 15 announcing that Aucoin had been fired for the comments he made on Facebook

The news of Aucoin's comments and subsequent dismissal comes as a number of racially charged incidents involving police have hit the headlines across the U.S.

On May 21, two white men were arrested in Georgia on suspicion of the February killing of Ahmaud Arbery - a 25-year-old black man - which came to light after a video was shared on social media of former police officer Gregory McMichael and son Travis that appeared to show the men chasing Arbery down and shooting him.

The two men were arrested and public outrage over the lack of response from local officials in February has been wide-spread.

On Monday May 25, a video was shared on social media showing a white Minneapolis Police Department officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd for over 8 minutes, until he died.

The incident has sparked protests in Minneapolis and public outrage against police brutality, and the four MPD police officers involved have been fired, with further investigations pending. 

Also on Monday at around 8 a.m., a white woman named Amy Cooper was walking her dog off the leash in Central Park in New York. 

When a black man  - Christian Cooper, who was out bird watching - asked if she could put her dog on the leash, she called the cops on him, saying her life was being threatened by an 'African American man'.

She has since been terminated from her job as head of insurance investment solutions at Franklin Templeton on Tuesday, having been placed on administrative leave a day earlier. 

Following the backlash against Cooper’s actions, New York State Lawmakers Assemblyman Felix Ortiz and Senator Brian Benjamin introduced new legislation on Tuesday that would make falsely reporting an incident as a hate crime illegal, should it pass. 

On Tuesday night, a white venture capitalist - Tom Austin - who threatened to call the police on a group of Black entrepreneurs working out in a Minneapolis gym had his office lease terminated.

It turned out the men he threatened were fellow businessmen, operating a business out of the same building that Austin worked in.