Bellevue police officer placed on administrative leave for social media posts

Department is investigating the posts, which included conspiracy theory about George Floyd’s death.

By Haley Ausbun • June 4, 2020 4:50 pm
Bellevue Police car
Bellevue Police car

A Bellevue police officer is being placed on administrative leave after the officer’s social media post was found to have violated the police department’s policies.

Twitter accounts called out a Bellevue police officer’s social media feeds on Tuesday, June 2, which appear to promote conspiracy theories including retweeting a post that falsely claimed the cops responsible in George Floyd’s death were not the ones that have since been identified and arrested, and a selfie in police gear with a caption connected to “QAnon,” a conspiracy theory alleging a secret plot against President Donald Trump.

The officer has since deleted both his Twitter and Facebook account, although some accounts have screenshots of the posts, which are still circulating on Twitter. Police are not identifying the officer by name, but did respond to a tweet regarding these screenshots on June 2, stating that the department would look into the matter.

“Thank you for bringing this to our attention. BPD does not tolerate behavior by our employees that call into question their ability to remain unbiased. We are looking into the matter,” the tweet from Bellevue police states.

A blog post from Bellevue Police Department states the department immediately looked into the matter after police were alerted about the possible social media policy violation, and found cause to launch an investigation.

The officer is on leave pending investigation outcome.

“We will allow the investigators to do their work fully and completely, and we’ll take appropriate actions at its conclusion,” Police Chief Steve Mylett stated in the blog post.

Earlier in the week, Mylett posted a statement about the death of George Floyd, which can be read in full here.

Bellevue Reporter has reached out to Bellevue Police Department for additional information. This article will be updated.