Criticized Franklin Twp. firefighter submits resignation
Fire Chief Steve Bishop indefinitely suspended Roysdon on Sept. 12 after learning of the racially charged comment, which had been posted to Facebook. Bishop declined to comment and referred questions to Township Administrator Traci Stivers.
Stivers did not return messages for comment and there was no answer at the township offices midafternoon on Tuesday.
Roysdon, 20, indicated in the post that if he had to choose between saving a dog or a black man from a burning building that he would save the dog first because “one dog is more important than a million” and then used a racial slur.
A disciplinary hearing before the township board of trustees, on a charge of conduct unbecoming a township employee, had been scheduled for Sept. 27.
Morris told the Journal-News late Monday that “it was respectful for that person to resign because of his poor judgment.”
He said Stivers notified him about 7 p.m. Monday of Roysdon’s resignation.
“Even if you take race out of it, it still would be wrong. I’m disgusted in what he said,” Morris said previously to this news outlet. “There is no reason for him to say that anytime, anywhere ... That should never be said.”
Over the past few days, the presidents of the NAACP branches in Dayton and in Middletown have called for Roysdon’s termination.
“It was good news this morning,” said Dora Bronston, president of the NAACP Middletown Branch and Middletown’s vice mayor. “I think it was the right thing for him to do.”
She believes Roysdon put a lot of thought into his future by opting to resign instead of having a termination on his employment record.
“I hope he learned something from this,” Bronston said. “I think he was a little immature to be a firefighter.”
Bronston said she hopes the incident will provide “a great opportunity to weed out those people” who have racial issues and are not like-minded. She also said she hopes that Franklin Twp. will watch closely any social media posts made by their employees.