#Constable suspended for ‘despicable’ racist online posts

A Pennsylvania judge suspended a constable Wednesday over a series of “despicable” Facebook posts calling for a “race war” and characterizing Black Lives Matter protesters as terrorists.

Pete Dardas — a Berks County constable since 2009 — was suspended indefinitely by a judge just two days after District Attorney John Adams learned of the “despicable racist rhetoric” on his personal Facebook page, the DA told The Post.

Dardas, whose profile was no longer available Wednesday, made a series of troubling posts dating back to at least mid-June, including some that encouraged a “civil/race war” and called for the removal of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. memorial in Washington.

Dardas also complained that people were getting fired from jobs because they disagreed with Black Lives Matter demonstrators, according to screenshots circulating online.

“The minute you say that people jump all over your ass, so I guess I’ll say this black lives don’t matter anymore than white lives,” Dardas wrote.

In another post from late last month, Dardas urged armed Americans to “take back our streets” from protesters, whom he characterized as “thugs,” and called for a “black history museum” to be burned to the ground, screenshots show.

Adams said he expects Dardas to resign “in the very near future” while noting that the suspension was effective immediately.

Dardas has admitted putting up the offending posts, Adams said.

“The posts from his Facebook page were despicable racist rhetoric,” he said. “They should never, ever have been posted.”

Constables in Berks County can perform duties including making summary arrests and transporting defendants to court, as well working at polls, Adams said.

But aside from working at county polls as recently as 2018, Dardas has not “performed any constable services at all,” Adams told The Post.

“I can only hope that people are learning that this type of rhetoric is completely inappropriate to be posted on a public forum,” Adams said. “I hope people think before they type.”

Dardas, whose current term is set to run through 2021, ran as a Republican in 2009. He was later reelected to another six-year term in 2015, the Reading Eagle reports.