A police Facebook group reportedly posted a mocking memorial tribute to Michael Brown, the unarmed teen whose death last year in Ferguson, Mo., sparked a movement against police violence against blacks, according to Raw Story.
Ahead of the first anniversary of Brown’s Aug. 9 death at the hands of then-Ferguson Officer Darren Wilson, the Facebook group, Police Officers, reportedly posted an image of a crude memorial plaque that read: “There once was a thug named Brown, who bum-rushed a cop with a frown. Six bullets later, he met his creator, then his homies burnt down the town."
The posting was removed after an outcry on social media. Before it was removed, however, the post received nearly 4,000 Facebook likes and was shared more than 1,700 times, Raw Story says. But some members of the closed group objected to the image.
“Sorry, while I support my LEO [law enforcement officer] brothers,” one commenter wrote, the report says, “this is very distasteful. We are above this garbage. Should take down.”
According to Raw Story, the group’s administrator replied: “Mike Brown chose his path, one that has lead [sic] this country into complete divisiveness. He’s not a martyr, he was a thug, who robbed a clerk then made the adult choice to fight a cop, of which he intended to murder.”
The mocking verse reportedly debuted on a now-banned Reddit community called “CoonTown” but was redistributed by the libertarian group Communism Kills, according to Raw Story.
Read more at Raw Story.