Miami-Dade Fire Captain Brian Beckmann got into a bit of hot water last month when he made some fairly brutal and racially insensitive comments on his personal facebook page. This is what he had to say about the press conference special prosecutor Corey had about the Trayvon Martin incident that resulted in his death.

“Listening to Prosecutor Corey blow herself and her staff for five minutes before pre-passing judgment on George Zimmerman. The state seeks reelection again, truth aside. I and my coworkers could rewrite the book on whether our urban youths are victims of racist profiling or products of their failed, shitbag, ignorant, pathetic, welfare dependent excuses for parents, but like Mrs. Corey, we speak only the truth. They’re just misunderstood little church going angels and the ghetto hoodie look doesn’t have anything to do with why people wonder if they’re about to get jacked by a thug.”

Well after the comments became public and the complaints started to roll in the department heads decided to have a disciplinary hearing regarding what they should do with Captain Beckmann . What came out of it is basically the harshest punishment one can get without getting fired. After 2 hours it was decided that Capt. Beckmann has been demoted to the lowest rank of firefighter and will have to submit to a psychological evaluation and take diversity training courses before he can rejoin the ranks.

His union representative has filed an appeal on Captain Beckmann’s behalf under the grounds that the punishment is too harsh for the event that took place. That his spotless record over the last 20 years is wiped away because of 1 erroneous Facebook post.

Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez said Monday that public employees writing “disparaging” comments about others in the community won’t be tolerated. “There’s no such thing as being off-the-clock; we are public servants 24/7 and must conduct ourselves with the utmost professionalism at all times.”

Let’s hope that the last thing we hear about race relations in Florida for a long time is the outcome of the Zimmerman case.

photo courtesy of Miami-Dade County