‘Speak English.’ Georgia jail employee fired over comments caught on video
A jail worker lost his job after he made racist comments toward a group of college students, Georgia officials say.
Cristina Riofrio says she was speaking Spanish with friends when a stranger confronted her at a McDonald’s in Savannah, WSAV reports.
“Speak English,” the man said in an expletive-laced video posted Saturday on Twitter.
In just a few days, 2 million people watched the one-minute recording.
Now, the man who appeared in the exchange is out of a job, according to a Thursday news release.
Walter Browning was fired from his position as a mechanic at the Chatham County jail, according to his employer.
The sheriff’s office says it determined “Browning did make racist statements to this group of students” and that the department “has no tolerance for this behavior.”
At the start of the video, he can be heard making a remark that someone came to this country on a boat.
“You’re a racist,” the person said during the ensuing exchange.
“I know I am,” Browning said before he’s told to leave the restaurant.
After the encounter, Riofrio told WSAV she’s “never going to stop speaking Spanish in front of white people, like I feel proud of where I come from.”
This story was originally published September 26, 2019 at 9:27 AM with the headline "‘Speak English.’ Georgia jail employee fired over comments caught on video."
