An Idaho police officer, who went viral for mocking National Basketball Association star LeBron James’s stance on law enforcement, was terminated from his job Wednesday.
Deputy Marshal Nate Silvester was fired for violating “several clearly established” policies after he was placed on probation and a “last chance agreement,” said Bellevue Mayor Ned Burns. Silvester posted a TikTok video that featured a pretend phone call with James, mocking his social media posts regarding the police shooting of Ma’Khia Bryant, who was pronounced dead after police shot her as she lunged at an individual with a knife.
“Hold on, it’s LeBron,” the former officer said in the viral post. “LeBron, hey, it’s me again. Listen, I’m out here at this disturbance call, and there’s this guy trying to stab another guy with a knife. What do you think I should do?”
VIDEO OF POLICE OFFICER MOCKING LEBRON JAMES FOR HIS ‘YOU’RE NEXT’ TWEET GOES VIRAL
“OK, well, they’re both black,” he added. “One guy is trying to stab another guy with a knife. Deadly force is completely justified. Uh-huh, I see. So you don’t care if a black person kills another black person, but you do care if a white cop kills a black person, even if he’s doing it to save the life of another black person?”
Silvester’s termination was not influenced by “the speech that he posts online,” Burns said.
“The policy violations have nothing to do with the tone or the tenor of his speech that he posts online. He was not terminated for the content of his speech; he was terminated for his failure to follow clearly laid out and well established policy,” Burns wrote. “The decision was solely made by the command structure within the Bellevue Marshals office and was not influenced in any way by me or by the City Council.”
James was the subject of backlash after he posted a tweet that read “YOU’RE NEXT” with a photograph of the officer who shot Bryant in Columbus, Ohio, on April 20, before Derek Chauvin was found guilty of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter in the killing of George Floyd.
LeBron James just deleted this tweet: pic.twitter.com/5F6pZVi0QB
— Alex Salvi (@alexsalvinews) April 21, 2021
James later deleted the tweet and posted an explanation in response to ire from other users.
“I’m so damn tired of seeing Black people killed by police. I took the tweet down because its [sic] being used to create more hate -This isn’t about one officer,” he said. “it’s about the entire system and they always use our words to create more racism. I am so desperate for more ACCOUNTABILITY.”
Around the time Silvester’s video was circulating, the Bellevue Marshal’s Office was aware of an “extreme controversy,” it said, adding that his statements did not align with the law enforcement body.
“The Bellevue Marshal’s Office is aware of the extreme controversy regarding Deputy Marshal Silvester’s viral TikTok,” the office wrote in an April 27 Facebook post. “The statements made do NOT represent the Bellevue Marshal’s Office. The Bellevue Marshal’s Office always demands that our Deputies engage with our citizens in a friendly and professional manner. This is NOT how we expect our Deputies to act on duty or use city time. This is a personnel issue that is being dealt with internally.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
The fired officer made the video because “most people in this country” are unaware of what being a police officer is like, he said.
“Like I said, [the officer who shot Bryant] was put in an awful, terrible situation, and it’s tragic what happened, but that doesn’t mean it’s not justified,” he told KTVB on April 27. “You know most people in this country don’t know what it’s like to be a police officer. They don’t know what it’s like to be in a stressful situation like that.”
