Sacramento protests continue after funeral for Stephon Clark
Claudia Cowan reports from California where protesters are calling on prosecutors to file criminal charges against officers involved in the fatal shooting of Stephon Clark.
A nurse was placed on leave from a Sacramento, Calif., hospital Friday for writing on Facebook that Stephon Clark, the unarmed black man who was fatally shot by police, “deserved it for being stupid.”
Faith Linthicum, a labor and delivery nurse at Kaiser Permanente Roseville Medical Center in California, provoked a social media frenzy when she commented on a post about Clark’s death, the Sacramento Bee reported.
“Yeah but he was running from the police jumping over fences and breaking in peoples house…why run??!!! He deserved it for being stupid,” the post reportedly read.
Her comments widely circulated on social media. One user reportedly wrote, “How can we trust our lives, the lives of our black and brown babies to these people? Nurses are supposed to help people not be happy when people die.”
“Kaiser Permanente does not tolerate hate or discrimination and has a long history of embracing diversity and inclusion – it remains a place where we welcome everyone,” a statement from the company read. “We want to emphasize that the comments expressed by this employee, who is no longer with the organization, do not in any way reflect Kaiser Permanente’s views or actions.”
Linthicum was placed on administrative leave, pending an investigation. The company declined to state whether they had fired her.
Protesters have been marching and holding demonstrations in Sacramento since police body cam footage showed Sacramento police officers fired at Clark 20 times in his grandmother’s backyard March 18. Clark’s autopsy results, released Friday, revealed he had been shot eight times, including seven times from behind.
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