King County Detective Fired Over Facebook Posts

SEATTLE — The King County Sheriff's Office fired a longtime detective Thursday, more than seven months after an investigation began into inflammatory social media posts.

Michael Brown, a 40-year veteran of the sheriff's office, was placed on leave in July 2020, after the sheriff's office opened an internal investigation into eight Facebook posts. Brown most recently served in King County Executive Dow Constantine's protection unit.

One photo shared July 4 on his Facebook account showed a decal with the text "all lives splatter," just hours after a driver hit two demonstrators on Interstate 5, killing one and seriously injuring another. A comment Brown posted a short time later read, "I see a couple people got infected with Covid-19 from the hood of a car on I-5 last night."

Last October, the undersheriff recommended Brown's firing, citing the internal investigation's findings. According to the memo, Brown told investigators he did not consider the "all lives splatter" post controversial at the time and said the COVID-19 comment was a "poor attempt at humor."

The sheriff's office said Brown requested an in-person hearing with Sheriff Mitzi Johanknecht last November to argue his case. After reviewing the findings again, Johanknecht concluded the posts advocated violence and "badly damaged confidence and trust in the Sheriff's Office," pointing to substantial public outcry.

"The volume of complaints concerning your series of posts caused a significant slowdown in the work of the Internal Investigations Unit in order for them to review, document, process and investigate hundreds of complaints. These complaints came through the Executive's Office, the Office of Law Enforcement Oversight, IIU, and direct emails to me. The overwhelming negative response made clear that confidence and trust in the Sheriff's Office was badly damaged by your actions and social media posts."

In a lengthy explanation for her decision to uphold the firing decision, Johanknecht drew parallels to similar incidents, including a civilian employee who received a 10-day suspension for posting an "all lives splatter" meme in 2017, shortly after Charlottesville. That case, Johanknecht wrote, was "extremely concerning," but the level of discipline different because it involved a single post, and the employee was "not in a position to use force."

Johanknecht repeatedly pointed to the extent of public outcry and resulting reputational damage to the office as a pivotal determining factor. The sheriff said a captain was recently suspended just one day for sharing a viral video of a robbery and referring to the Black suspects as "animals."

"This was because there was not the outrage and extremely harmful, negative and damaging effect to the Sheriff's Office that your posts and comments created locally and nationwide," Johanknecht wrote.

The sheriff also referenced previous conduct on Brown's record, including a one-day suspension in 2013, when he was suspected of driving under the influence and a hit-and-run.

Johanknecht concluded:

"I have considered your work history and the seriousness of your conduct. Several of your posts endorsed and advocated unnecessary/excessive use of force and violence. They demonstrated extreme indifference to life and racial equity. These seven posts occurred in the short timeframe of one month. You have a prior sustained violation for Conduct Unbecoming, as noted above. I also weigh the discipline imposed in other cases involving social media postings. It is necessary that I also consider your ability to be effective as a law enforcement officer, given the ample material now available to discredit and undermine you and your work for this Office. The damage to your integrity and ability to continue to serve as a law enforcement officer cannot be repaired."

According to a sheriff's office spokesman, Brown may still challenge the firing through his union.

Read the sheriff's full memo below: