Local emergency management page accidentally posts anti-protester meme

The Chelan County Emergency Management Facebook page – with nearly 35,000 followers who look to it for public safety information – shared what leaders call an inappropriate and hurtful post about protesters.

Before it was deleted, the Chelan County Emergency Management Facebook page shared an anti-protester meme from the page called, “Libtards; ya gotta love ’em!” The meme showed pedestrians hit by cars, and it read “All lives splatter: Nobody cares about your protests. Keep your a** out of the road.”

The meme was created sometime after white supremacists rallied this summer in Charlottesville, Virginia, where a car plowed into a group of protesters killing one person and injuring 19 others.

The Chelan County employee, who claimed he or she meant to share it on a personal page, wrote the caption with a shared post, “I don’t wish harm on anyone…but protesters don’t belong in the road!”

Chelan County Sheriff Brian Burnett released a statement on Monday that said the post does not reflect the views of its staff. Here’s there’s full statement:

Earlier this date, the Chelan County Emergency Management Facebook page displayed an inappropriate comment, which had been sent to a non-commissioned employee’s personal account. The employee accidentally shared the post onto the Emergency Management’s Facebook page. Staff at Chelan County Emergency Management feel terrible that this inappropriate and hurtful post made it onto the Facebook page. The posting was removed as soon as staff realized the error. Changes have already been made in procedure to assure nothing like this will occur in the future. This post does not reflect the views of the Sheriff’s Office and we trust the public will continue to follow us during emergency situations on our Chelan County Management Facebook page.