Vermont Deputy Joins Unemployment Line After Texting Racist Image of Officers in KKK Hoods Mocking Jail Inmates, and Now His Cases Are Falling Apart
A Vermont deputy is out of a job after law enforcement officials discovered he sent racist text messages to a group chat that included his colleagues.
The Rutland County Sheriff’s Department reported that Deputy Ryder Paskevich was fired on Jan. 26 after he texted an offensive message to other members of the sheriff’s office, according to WPTZ.
Multiple witnesses say the message was an image that allegedly depicted law enforcement officers wearing Ku Klux Klan attire and making racist remarks to incarcerated individuals.
People belonging to the group chat reportedly responded to the image with backlash, which prompted Paskevich to delete it from the group.
His peers reported his conduct to their chain of command, triggering an internal investigation that included interviews with the group chat members, who told department officials about the contents of the image.
According to an internal report, Paskevich violated department policy and the Vermont Criminal Justice Council’s Law Enforcement Officers’ Code of Conduct.
After Paskevich was informed that he violated policy, he confessed to sending the image and was terminated from his position.
The Rutland County State’s Attorney’s Office also said it will not call Paskevich as a law enforcement witness. The office will also review all cases in which Paskevich was previously involved to determine whether they can proceed without his involvement.
Similar cases emerge all too often within law enforcement.
A higher-profile case that caught national attention involved 17 officers in the Antioch Police Department in California who exchanged racist and homophobic texts in a group chat for three years, which embroiled the police force in scandal.
The case prompted a civil rights lawsuit and a Justice Department investigation that ultimately forced the police department to overhaul its policies. Some of the officers who were members of the chat were criminally charged, and others resigned from the force.
Rutland County States Attorney Ian Sullivan said several cases linked to the deputy have been discharged.
“We’ve already begun the process of reviewing cases he was involved in where he is a crucial witness,” Sullivan said. “We’re not anywhere close to done (with) the reviews, so this is affecting cases.”