Police officer loses job after Facebook post calling BLM rioters ‘terrorists’; second officer who reacted to the post was suspended, demoted

A New Jersey police officer is out of a job after she reportedly referred to Black Lives Matter rioters as "terrorists" in a Facebook post, Newsweek reported on Thursday.

A second officer has been suspended for six months and was demoted for interacting with the post.

What are the details?

Hopewell Township's council unanimously voted to fire Officer Sara Erwin on Friday.

Sgt. Mandy Gray, who reacted to the post, was suspended for six months and demoted, according to reports.

In her post, Erwin wrote, "Last night as I left for work I had my two kids crying for me not to go to work."

"I don't think I've ever felt the way I did last night," she said. "And then I watched people I know and others I care about going into harms [sic] way. I love my police family like my own. So when you share posts and things on Facebook I'd really appreciate if you THINK before doing so."

The post continued, "I've seen so many black lives matter hashtags in these posts. Just to let you know — they are terrorists. They hate me. They hate my uniform. They don't care if I die."

What else?

On Wednesday, Erwin told "Fox & Friends First" that she wrote the post during a heightened emotional time when friends and family were reaching out to check on her well-being after reports of rising anti-police sentiment across the country following George Floyd's 2020 death.

"They were seeing so many things on the news," she said. "I felt it was easiest to put what I was feeling and get a message out there that was home, I was safe. It was a really emotional time."

The former officer said that she has been devastated by her firing.

Frank Crivelli, an attorney for both Erwin and Gray, said that the two female officers have more than two decades of experience in law enforcement and no prior history of complaints and called the move "disgraceful" and an act of "cowardice."

Crivelli also noted that appeals are already under way in Superior Court for both women.

The New York Post reported that Crivelli added that the council was "pandering to the far left" with its decision and trying to make an example out of the officers.

Hopewell Township Police Director Robert Karmazin confirmed to the Post on Tuesday that the matter is in active litigation.

“As the matter is in active litigation, the Hopewell Township Committee, the Hopewell Township Police Department and the Hopewell Township staff will have no further comment at this time," his statement read.