Police chief suspended over Facebook comment urging drivers to “hit the gas” on protesters

A comment that seems reprehensible in one context might be perfectly innocent in another.

Or at least that’s the rationale of an Iowa police chief who apparently encouraged the vehicular mowing down of protesters only to later clarify that the controversial online remark had been attached to the wrong Facebook post.

Sioux Rapids Police Chief Tim Porter was suspended for two weeks without pay Monday over a Facebook comment he made that appeared to target local Black Lives Matter protesters.

Porter posted the remark, “hit the gas and hang on over the road bumps,” all in capital letters, under a June 21 Facebook video which showed a truck driving through a throng of demonstrators in the state capital Des Moines.

The city’s council voted unanimously for the two-week suspension after the head cop admitted to writing the post, KTIV reports. He will also be required to take a sensitivity training class.

In a statement to the news station, Porter apologized for the inflammatory remark but also offered an ingenious explanation – he was looking at another post at the time and  “somehow it accidentally was posted on the wrong post.”

The “correct” post the remark was intended for is yet to come to light.

Although Porter faced criticism on social media for the comment, some community members at Monday’s council meeting expressed support for their police head.

“Our chief is a very good man,” Joel McCoy said, according to KTIV. “For the sake of the argument, he made a huge mistake.

But, I think pencils have erasers. I think we all deserve a second chance. I think that man will do all he can to make sure he’s a better person each day.”