SAVANNAH, Ga.-- A man employed by the Chatham County Sheriff's Office in Georgia is now out of a job after a video surfaced of him making racist comments to students speaking Spanish.
The man, now identified as Walter Browning, was terminated from his sheriff's office job as a jail maintenance mechanic where he had worked for the past three years.
A Savannah College of Art and Design student, Cristina Riofrio, posted the video of her encounter with Browning on Twitter.
Riofrio said she and her friends were at a McDonald's Saturday night where they were having a conversation in Spanish.
Browning interrupted their conversation, telling them to "shut up" and "speak English."
In the video, Browning is heard talking about how he has been living in the United States for years and suggested that Riofrio immigrated to the country “on a (expletive) —— boat," WSAV reported.
According to WSAV, Riofrio says she was born in California and her parents are from Ecuador.
In a press conference, Sheriff John Wilcher said he saw the video Wednesday morning at about 9:00 and by 9:30, Browning had been dismissed.
"The Chatham County Sheriff's Office is going to distance themselves from people like this. We're not going to tolerate it and that's the end of the subject. I'm not going to tolerate it. I'm very transparent. I'm going to tell you what's going on. I'm going to make sure that we're taken care of and that my people are taken care of and I will not tolerate nothing like this in my organization," Sheriff Wilcher said.
