NJ Town fires police officer after she labeled BLM as terrorists

Sara Erwin, a Hopewell Township police officer, was fired Friday over a post on Facebook made in June of last year.

In the post, she discusses how her kids were afraid for her to go to work after the George Floyd riots and said that BLM “are terrorists. They hate me. They hate my uniform. They don’t care if I die.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever felt the way I did last night,”said Erwin. “And then I watched people I know and others I care about going into harms way. I love police family like my own.”

“I’ve seen so many black lives matter hashtags in these posts,” continued Erwin’s post. “Just to let you know – they are terrorists. They hate me. They hate my uniform. They don’t care if I die.”

At first, she and multiple other police officers that reacted to the post were investigated and placed on leave but on May 30th, the town’s committee unanimously voted to fire her

Another officer, Sgt. Mandy Grey was demoted from sergeant and suspended for 6 months after she replied to Erwin’s post. She was the first female officer to have been hired by the township and was their first female sergeant.

“The fact that she supported her position as a fellow officer, that was the reason that they actually suspended her,” said the officers’ attorney Frank Crivelli.

Erwin was hired by the department since 2001. Grey was hired by the department in 1999. Both had “absolutely spotless records” and zero internal affairs complaints until the Facebook post.

“They’re trying to make an example out of them, and in my view, they’re pandering to the far left,” said Crivelli.

“As the matter is in active litigation, the Hopewell Township Committee, the Hopewell Township Police Department and the Hopewell Township staff will have no further comment at this time,” said a statement from Hopewell Township Police Director Robert Karmazin.