An Overland Park, Kansas police officer was fired in July 2016 after a threatening comment was posted on Facebook about a five year old girl.
The girl’s mother, Lanaydra of Dallas, Texas, shared photos of her daughter on Facebook back in October 2014. According to her account, she recently got a notification about a new comment on one of those photos from a man who lives hundreds of miles away. She described the comment as a threat against her daughter’s life and a warning to be careful about leaving personal information public.
Lanaydra said she clicked on the man’s profile and saw that he was a police officer. “This is not acceptable at all,” she said. She added that she was upset because the comment was about her child.
After Lanaydra reported the comment, the Overland Park Police Department opened an investigation. The department determined the comment came from one of its own officers, and the officer was terminated.
Lanaydra said she believes situations like this reflect the tension between police and communities of color, and she hopes sharing her story helps shed light on the issue.
