Nurse Who Said ‘Stupid’ Stephon Clark ‘Deserved’ To Be Shot By Cops Loses Job
A Sacramento nurse lost her job after she wrote that Stephon Clark, the unarmed black man killed by cops on March 18, “deserved” to be shot “for being stupid.”
The Sacramento Bee reports that Faith Linthicum, who worked as a labor and delivery nurse at Kaiser Permanente Roseville Medical Center, was let go this week after her Facebook comment about Clark was shared by an activist, provoking a social media firestorm.
Christina Arechiga spotted Linthicum’s comment about Stephon Clark’s death and shared it on Facebook. Her March 23 post was titled “Racist Nurse at Kaiser Roseville” and included screenshots of Linthicum’s Facebook profile and two other comments the nurse had made.
“Yeah but he was running from the police jumping over fences and breaking in peoples houses…why run??!!!” Linthicum wrote in a Facebook comment thread.
“He deserved it for being stupid.”
Arechiga told the Sacramento Bee that she was “so disgusted” by what Linthicum said about Clark. The Sacramento resident also said that she looked for the woman’s Facebook profile to see if she was from the region and was “shocked” to find that on top of being from the area, she also helped deliver babies at Kaiser Permanente Roseville Medical Center.
“This woman works in labor and delivery – how can we trust her with our black and brown babies?” Arechiga wrote.
“Nurses are supposed to help people not be happy when people die.”
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10210899547474480&set=a.1238992744722.2030390.1526394294&type=3&theater
Arechiga’s Facebook post included a call to action. “Please call Kaiser and demand this woman be removed from service! If you have a problem with black and brown people you will not work in our community!” she wrote.
Aside from the comment about Stephon Clark, Arechiga also posted screenshots of two other statements made by Linthicum. In one, she wrote, “Can we protest the deaths of all the people shot by black people too?”
The other was about President Trump and his wall.
“He’ll [sic] yeah!!! Build that wall Mr. President!! #prototypeshopping.”
As of writing, more than 2,200 people have shared Arechiga’s post.
After her comment about Stephon Clark spread on social media, Linthicum was placed on administrative leave pending an investigation. On Thursday, Kaiser Permanente released a statement saying it “does not tolerate hate or discrimination” and that Linthicum was no longer employed there.
“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.”
“When you say something like that as a nurse, then it does bring into question whether you are a qualified caregiver,” employment attorney Julia L. Jenness told the Sacramento Bee.
Former NBA player leads Stephon Clark protest rally https://t.co/6cPjh9Wl8x pic.twitter.com/EfOgjMgVxL
— CNN (@CNN) April 1, 2018
According to Arechiga, Linthicum sent a message via Instagram informing her that she was considering a defamation lawsuit.
Arechiga’s cousin, Ernest Duenez Jr., was shot and killed by a police officer in 2011. Since then, she has campaigned against police shootings and helped organize demonstrations to raise awareness about other shooting deaths.
Stephon Clark, a 22-year-old father of two, was shot and killed by Sacramento cops in his grandmother’s backyard last month. Police body cam footage showed that the officers thought Stephon was armed and fired at him 20 times. No gun was found at the scene. The cops later discovered that Clark was just holding his cellphone.
In the wake of Stephon’s death, protesters have staged numerous demonstrations all over Sacramento. At one such event on Saturday night, a Sacramento County Sheriff’s Deputy struck and injured an elderly woman with his patrol car.
Sacramento sheriff's vehicle hits protester at Stephon Clark vigil https://t.co/BE2Ueg7Lth pic.twitter.com/M3zelqBzHQ
— CNN (@CNN) April 1, 2018
