Ex-sheriff dispatcher says NC protesters are ‘spoiled brats’ who should be ‘run over’
A woman in North Carolina called protesters who blocked the streets “spoiled brats” in a Facebook comment after suggesting they be run over by cars.
She used to work for the local sheriff’s office.
Dena Barker was a dispatcher with the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office for 15 years before retiring in April, according to the department’s Facebook page. Her comments appeared Tuesday on a video of protesters in Winston-Salem.
“Parents should have taught them don’t play in the street! RUN THEIR STUPID IGNORANT BUTTS OVER! It’s a road to be traveled on by vehicles, not whiney(sic) spoiled brats who thinks(sic) the world owes them something,” she said, according to a screenshot of the exchange posted on Facebook.
In a statement Wednesday, Sheriff Bobby F. Kimbrough Jr., who is black, said Barker is not associated with the department and her comments are not indicative of the agency’s views.
“We are disappointed that her personal views break down the trust that our community has in us,” the sheriff’s office said in the statement. “We continue to encourage speaking out against injustice and hate, we support peaceful protest, and we will continue to serve our community with transparency, compassion, and integrity.”
Barker retired April 20, the sheriff’s office said in a farewell post that described her “heart for (the) FCSO Family” and “compassion for animals.”
In her “parting words,” she told the sheriff’s office her “one prayer” every day was that “we all go home safely.”
“I embark on my next chapter in life not as a decommissioned ship that has sailed into the night but as a person full of hope and happiness ready to tackle the world,” she said, according to the post. “The single most prevalent element to mind is I pray I have served and lived up to the expectations of the FCSO team that I have had the honor of being a part of.”
Winston-Salem protests
Protests on Tuesday night held up traffic on two sides of Winston-Salem, media outlets report.
The Winston-Salem Police Department blocked intersections while escorting one group of about 100 protesters to a shopping center parking lot where they laid down for nine minutes to symbolize George Floyd’s death, the Winston-Salem Journal reported.
Floyd died after a white police officer in Minneapolis kneeled on his neck for the same amount of time. That officer, Derek Chauvin, was fired and charged with second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. He remains jailed with bail set at $1.25 million.
The protesters then marched onto Interstate 40, prompting police to stop traffic in both directions, according to the Journal.
Another group of about 100 protesters gathered across town at a busy intersection around the same time, the newspaper reported.
Videos of the protests — particularly those seen walking on I-40 — that circulated on social media Tuesday night drew hundreds of thousands of views and comments, a search on Facebook shows.
