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Wrestling coach in Washington state fired after mocking George Floyd’s fatal arrest

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A high school wrestling coach in Washington state has been fired after he made an insensitive post in regards to George Floyd’s fatal arrest by a Minneapolis police officer.

Dave Hollenbeck, a first-year coach at Bethel High School in Spanaway uploaded a photo to Facebook of himself on the floor, smiling, with a knee to the back of his neck, similar to images of Floyd, a 46-year-old African American man, who died on Monday after being handcuffed and pinned to the ground by a white officer, Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd’s neck for about eight minutes.

Hollenbeck, 44, wrote in the post: “Not dead yet I’m doing this for … police officers the media is a race baiting machine and I’m tired of it I’m going to speak out every time if you don’t like that I’m sorry but I love All people.. Wake up America.”

Wrestling coach Dave Hollenbeck.
Wrestling coach Dave Hollenbeck’s Facebook post.Dave Hollenbeck / via Facebook

School officials immediately responded announcing that Hollenbeck has been fired.

Douglas Boyles, a spokesman for the school district, said in a statement Thursday “His behavior was not consistent with our equity initiatives and nondiscrimination policies,” the statement said.