Cop fired after admitting he targeted black drivers in Facebook post

Oct 5, 2016

A white Georgia sheriff’s deputy has been fired, and another has resigned, after racist and sexist Facebook posts emerged showing the two of them exchanging bigoted messages.

Brant Gaither and Jeremy Owens exchanged messages laced with profanity and racial slurs, including one exchange in which they said that they hoped the weather didn’t interfere with their plans to stop more black drivers that day.

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“It’s supposed to rain tomorrow. Might not get too many niggs,” said Owens.

“I hope we get a few but (expletive) if we don’t,” Gaither replied.

Another exchange included an image of Martin Luther King, Jr. “I have a dream. That one day my people will not act like animals,” wrote Gaither.

“Lol. That’ll never happen,” Owens replied.

The messages also included several jokes about domestic violence toward women. They were discovered when a deputy was issued Owens’ old computer, and Sheriff Stephen D. Jessup said that he took immediate action upon their discovery.

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“There was never any question of what I needed to do and I did it,” Jessup said. “I do not tolerate that in my department.”

Gaither was terminated from the force on July 25, and Owens resigned the day afterwards.