Thursday morning saw a different kind of protest than ones in recent days as supporters of a Broward Sheriff’s Office deputy reprimanded over a social media post arrived at the doorsteps of the department’s headquarters - with some calling for the current sheriff to lose his job.
The rally was organized calling for the reinstatement of Deputy Ron Thurston, a 21-year veteran of the department placed on administrative desk duty amid an investigation into comments he made on social media criticizing a lack of black deputies being represented in specialized units of BSO.
The department released a statement saying they in “no way condone opinions or statements that discredit an individual or reflect poorly on our agency.”
Thurston’s supporters say the move by Sheriff Gregory Tony is political, since Thurston has been actively campaigning for the man Tony replaced – former Sheriff Scott Israel, who marched on Thurston’s behalf.
“He’s a good deputy and what happened to him was unjust and Dr. King said an injustice anywhere is injustice everywhere,” Israel said.
Several demonstrators called for Tony’s ouster at the event.
“Yet again, Scott Israel’s campaign just can’t be honest," Tony's campaign said in a statement to NBC 6. "This was a political event organized by Scott Israel’s paid political consultants, and attended by political opponents of Sheriff Tony and Scott Israel himself."
