Records: Kissimmee officer fired over Facebook posts

A Kissimmee police officer was fired recently after the police department found dozens of his Facebook posts containing racially insensitive and politically charged content violated the department’s professional standards and social media policy, records show.

Andrew Johnson’s Facebook posts, on topics like the Black Lives Matter protests, the Capitol insurrection and the presidential election, were sent to the Kissimmee Police Department by a concerned citizen, according to records from an internal investigation.

Johnson, who was on probationary employment at the time, was placed on administrative leave without pay Jan. 12 and fired from the agency Jan. 14, according to records. He was hired as a patrol officer with the agency in March 2020, KPD spokeswoman Samantha Scarp said.

Johnson appeared to show support for the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection by a pro-Trump mob and peddled the myth that President Joe Biden lost the election.

“The silent majority will rise!! Day one of the Revolutionary War!! Hang on, it’s only just begun,” he posted, records said.

On Jan. 21, the department received an email containing 30 screenshots of Facebook posts made by “Drew Johnson.” In the email, the sender called Johnson “a very big problem” and said he “is incapable of doing his job without bias which as we know is a massive problem for police in this country,” records show.

“Not only is he a very big supporter of what happened recently in dc but as you’ll see by the attached screen shots [sic] has posted some very inappropriate things,” the sender wrote. “... [in faceto-face conversations,] this man has said some massively concerning things as well.”

Another post indicated he thought there was impending violence in the country.

“Civil War is right around the corner. It’s coming, prepare for it now,” he wrote in a September post, according to records.

Several of Johnson’s posts included in the investigation center on racial discrimination and criticize the racial justice movement.

In August, he reposted a meme of a disabled parking space with the caption “BLM activists in Wisconsin paint street mural in support of Jacob Blake,” records show.

Another screenshot shows he reposted a meme in September about 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse, who is charged with fatally shooting two people protesting Blake’s death in Kenosha in August. “A 17-year-old dropped 3 rioters. What do you think 5 or 6 combatives will do?,” the picture reads, and Johnson commented “I’m sayin...,” records show.

He also called LeBron James a “true piece of [expletive],” for not standing for the national anthem, records show.