Officer’s Halloween cemetery display in MO being called ‘awful’ and ‘disrespectful’ – one of the crosses read “Here Lies Michael Brown, a fat ghetto clown.”
DESOTO, Mo. (KMOV.com) — The De Soto Police Department has launched an internal investigation after one of their officers’ Halloween display he had in his front yard last year.
Photos of a mock graveyard have been circulating on social media this week and many are finding the display disrespectful and offensive.
“We take it seriously and we’re going to fully investigate,” said De Soto Police Chief Jeff McCreary
The photos show several crosses with names on them that are used as grave markers. The wording on one of the crosses says, “Here lies Michael Brown, a fat ghetto clown.”
“I think it’s absolutely wrong.” said Mandy Peters.
People have been critical of the Halloween display on social media and in De Soto.
“I think it’s absolutely ridiculous. It’s awful,” said Tammie Krodinger.
The officer who put up the display was hired by the De Soto Police Department in 2019. But McCreary wouldn’t say if the officer was employed by the department at the time the display was up.
News 4 has learned the officer worked for the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department from 1999 to 2019. During that time, he was named officer of the month for District 8 for the month of February 2010. And in 2011, he arrested a man for impersonating a police officer when the suspect tried to pull over the off-duty officer as he drove on I-55 south of St. Louis.
McCreary said he’s assigned two people to the internal investigation and that it could take up to a week to complete.
Photo Credit: kmov.com