The mayor of a Northern California town flew off the handle during a special city council meeting after a resident called for an investigation “to determine if he has created a hostile work environment.”
Antioch Mayor Lamar Thorpe was infuriated over the remark and challenged the resident to “go outside,” before storming out of the meeting.
“You want to go outside right now? Let’s go!” Thorpe screamed. “I am sick and tired of being attacked by these people in this community apologizing for the racism that going on in this community. You’re the problem! You’re the problem!”
Mayor storms out of city council meeting after complete meltdown!
Dude – calm DOWN! How do these ppl get elected to lead? pic.twitter.com/2JXoz8XR5w— Emily (@Emme0703) April 14, 2023
Another member of the council tried to calm Thorpe, before calling for a recess — it was at that moment that the mayor stormed out.
The embattled city is mired in a controversy involving its police department after an FBI investigation revealed racist and homophobic text exchanges among about two dozen police officers, according to ABC 7. Two people had to be escorted out of the city council special meeting.
The text messages have not been made public, but that didn’t stop residents from commenting on the “disgusting” actions, the ABC affiliate reported, noting that a “sister station in San Francisco obtained a report containing the texts in which officers used slurs and made light of national cases involving police violence.”
“It’s vile, and we’re not going to tolerate this,” one woman said.
“They have no business being in law enforcement,” another woman said.
Thorpe addressed the text messages at Tuesday’s meeting and vowed to make changes.
“This is in their heart,” the mayor said. “It’s not just 17 individuals we’re talking about, we’re talking about 24. I’m not sweeping it under the rug. We’re not going to do that. They may get upset. The institution and status quo may get upset, but I’m not hiding behind that. This is what it is and we got to deal with it.”
Here’s a quick sampling of responses to the story from Twitter:
You read his Bio? pic.twitter.com/Q8guhODfQO
— ⚓️☠️I’m The One Called Doc☠️⚓️ (@hmcrem) April 14, 2023
That’s how they like to draw attention to themselves
Just remove themIt’s like kids having their tantrum
You can’t let this happen
If they do this over and over they need to be removed
Unbelievable
Then they pull race card of course if nothing else workds— Dr.Lilith ❤ ✝ In God we trust (@GodarmyofAngel) April 14, 2023
Slamming the door at the end of the video …
— CVALKYRIE06 (@CValkyrie06) April 14, 2023
Wow, that mayor is racist and too immature to be in that position.
— Valerie G (@ValerieGoldst17) April 14, 2023
Don’t criticize me I am a black man and you are racist you want to take this outside?!
Blah Blah Blah it’s so old.
Not a good look for a Mayor to challenge an old man to a fight either— Reese (@ReeseWideAwake) April 14, 2023
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Tom Tillison grew up in Maryland before moving to Central Florida as a young teen. It is in the Sunshine State that he honed both his passion for politics and his writing skills. Tillison also contributes to BizPac Review.
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