Fla. Firefighter Suspended for Online Rant: 'Who Cares Another Dead Cop'

A Miami firefighter has been relieved of duty while the agency looks into whether he was the author of a callous Instagram post about the shooting death of a Miami-Dade officer that outraged many officers and drew a formal complaint from the police union.

The Thursday post, which also criticized police officers in general, circulated in social media as the South Florida law enforcement community was mourning the loss of Cesar Echaverry, who was shot in the head during a shootout with a suspected armed-robber on Monday evening, had died Wednesday evening.

The Miami Fire Department confirmed that it had suspended a firefighter while investigators look into whether he wrote the posts, if his site was hacked, or if his picture was photo-shopped above the screed.

“At this time we are conducting an investigation into the statements that were made and the individual has been relieved of duty pending the outcome of the investigation,” Miami Fire Chief Joseph Zahlralban wrote in a prepared statement. “We want to be very clear that we, as an organization, do not share the views or beliefs that were written and do not reflect the values of our organization.”

The rant was attached to the account of firefighter Kevin Newcombe, a nine-year veteran whose father is a retired fire captain. Newcomb’s Instagram and Facebook pages appear to have been taken down. Zahlralban did not name Newcomb, but numerous media outlets in the United States and United Kingdom have posted the anti-police rant with his name and image.

The post, which came just a day after Echaverry had been removed from life support, read in part:

“Who cares another dead cop probably against gun control. They didn’t give a f... when kids were dying in that school shooting they stood outside,” the post read in part. “Cops exist for the government to exercise its monopoly on violence. They want the whole world to stop when one of theirs goes down.”.

It went on to say that the firefighter had lost count of how many “idiots” he had to transport because they refused to wear masks during the COVID-19 pandemic and ends with the writer saying “f... the police.”

The comments raised the ire of many officers, who shared it in group chats and on social media. On Thursday, Tommy Reyes, president of the Miami’ Fraternal Order of Police, issued a statement, saying he had requested that the firefighter be removed from duty pending the investigation.

“These comments are disgusting and lead me to worry for the safety of our members, fearing that this fire fighter may not assist one of our members the way he should,” Reyes said. “.... I want to remind our members that this person’s statement does not reflect the feelings of all of our fire department brothers and sisters.”

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