Nashville fire captain placed on leave after criticizing rioters, posting about race and politics on Facebook

A Nashville Fire Department captain is awaiting possible disciplinary action after a series of posts on his Facebook page about race, politics, and the Black Lives Matter movement drew ire from some constituents.

What are the details?

Capt. Tracy Turner of Station 18 in East Nashville was placed on paid administrative leave this week for referring to rioters as the "stupidest people on the planet" and younger liberals as "a generation of morons," according to WKRN-TV.

One of the controversial posts read, in part:

"What have we done? We have raised a generation of morons that think ... police are evil, especially the white ones ... [that think] destroying, burning, and looting people's businesses is part of a protest ... that all white people are racist and privileged ... what have we done?"

Another one said:

"I'm really tired of the bulls**t. If all white people can be guilty for slavery because of a few plantation owners ... then black people get to share the same guilt. There were Black plantation owners as well. So if all whites are guilty so are blacks."

In another post, Turner took aim at Black Lives Matter protesters and Antifa, specifically:

"These Protesters are the stupidest people on the planet, other than the arsonist and looters that hang out with them ... it's not that the Anti-Fa [sic] and BLM thugs are so strong that they are able to take over part of a city...It's that the Democrat Mayors are so weak as to let it happen. Shameful."

Finally, in still another post, Turner said that "if you have been mistreated by someone of a different race" it's probably because one of the involved persons was "a jerk," not because of "your skin color."

What else?

In response to the posts, Democratic state Rep. Vincent Dixie, who represents the district where Turner serves, said that the posts don't give him confidence that Turner can serve in a professional manner.

"Honestly, I don't think he should be a fireman and a first responder in a predominantly African American community," Dixie told WZTV-TV. "I just don't believe that because I don't believe that he's giving us 100% effort every time he goes out on a call and, when he sees a black person that's in need, that he's giving a 100% effort in order to save this person."

Dixie told WKRN-TV that following news of the posts constituents were expressing a lack of confidence in Turner, saying things like, "How do I know that he's going to take care of me? That he's going to come and give me the best aid that I need in order to survive?"

The state representative said that the decision on whether to remove Turner from his post will ultimately be up to the Nashville Fire Department.

In a statement, the department said: "When Captain Turner reported for duty Thursday for his scheduled shift NFD leadership met with him to discuss the posts. They placed him on paid administrative leave pending a disciplinary panel. He will not be allowed to return to work until after that process is completed. The hearing typically happens within 10 days."

Turner has since apologized on Facebook for his posts, explaining that he did not mean to lump peaceful protesters into his critical remarks about rioters.