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The assistant police chief of a small Louisiana community resigned Tuesday night after he posted a racially-charged meme on his personal Facebook page.
Wayne Welsh, the second in command in Estherwood, a village of fewer than 1,000 people in Acadia Parish near Lafayette, left his post after sharing the meme Saturday night.
According to KADN, Welsh shared a meme Saturday that depicted a mother holding the back of her daughter’s head, pushing her face down into a bathtub full of water.
The picture was captioned with: “When your daughter’s first crush is a little Negro boy.”
The post, as well as a screenshot of Welsh’s Facebook account, quickly went viral, with many calling for his resignation. Several people described the post as “disgusting.”
According to KATC, Welsh responded to the criticism, saying in a subsequent post: “It’s not against. The law if you share stuff on. Facebook. Its Social Media. Internet.”
A few hours later, he posted an apology.
“Well, I posted something on Facebook that made a lot of people mad,” Welsh wrote. “Well, I’m sorry for what happen. Ya have a blessed day.”
"I shared somebody else's posts and everybody mad at me again," he wrote. "So Facebook police mad at me."
The Facebook account has since been deactivated or made private.
Welsh's apology, however, did not sway Estherwood Police Chief Ernest Villejoin, who suspended his second in command.
“When I found out about it, I couldn’t believe I had to call him. I called him at work and asked him what the hell is going on,” Villejoin told KADN. “How’d this come out, I don’t know… He done it. He said it and he realized what he had done after he done it, and he deleted it but it was too late.”
Welsh resigned Tuesday night.
Villejoin said the statements made by Welsh do not reflect the Estherwood police.
“I know Wayne didn’t do this on purpose. He didn’t do this [to] offend anybody. I apologize that it offended, believe me,” he said.
It’s unclear how long Welsh was part of the police department.
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