A former police officer from the Pocomoke City Police Department in Maryland says his firing was simply punishment for "telling the truth," referring to his previous complaint of racially charged language against the state’s attorney. According to 35-year-old Franklin Savage, state’s attorney for Worcester County read letters recovered during a house search aloud that included multiple instances of the n-word.
"He kept repeating the word," Savage said in a statement obtained by the Washington Post. "I felt like it was directed at me. He didn’t have to read. I was just shocked he was doing this." Beau Oglesby, the state's attorney in question, refutes these claims, asserting that he told everyone in the room they could "leave the meeting" without explanation if offended by the words.
Savage’s firing comes just four months after the city’s first black police chief, Kelvin Sewell, was fired under related circumstances. According to Sewell, he was fired for "refusing to fire Savage and another black officer who alleged discrimination." Savage had also filed previous complaints of racism, including one instance in which a corporal reportedly texted him "What is ya body count n****?" Savage also says he was subjected to Ku Klux Klan references, racist Barack Obama rhetoric, and (bizarrely enough) a bloody body part from a deer being left on his vehicle. Both Sewell and Savage are now being represented by attorney Andrew G. McBride.
