#Florida deputy probed for claiming most people killed by cops ‘deserved it’

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Pinellas County Sheriffs Patrol car
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A Florida sheriff’s deputy is being investigated for a Facebook post claiming that “most” people who die during encounters with police deserved it.

Pinellas County Deputy Jay Dugmore, 49, is the subject of an internal affairs probe after someone sent screenshots of a Facebook exchange between the white jail deputy and another person to a St. Petersburg pastor who then shared them with Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, the Tampa Bay Times reports.

“And please [don’t] assume you know why a man kills another in this line of work,” Dugmore wrote. “MOST die at the hands of cops because they deserved it. There are way more good cops than bad.”

At another point in an apparent debate with another Facebook user on national protests in the aftermath of George Floyd’s police-custody death in Minneapolis, Dugmore also said “this country should be counting” its blessings that cops do not riot every time a black man kills a law enforcement officer.

The controversial exchange caught the eye of the Rev. Andy Oliver of Allendale United Methodist Church, who sent the offending screenshots to Gualtieri on May 30, the Tampa Bay Times reports.

Oliver then filed a formal complaint Friday through the agency’s website while accusing the sheriff of not addressing the statements soon enough, Oliver told the newspaper.

“If police want to improve trust, complaint of racism must be given the highest priority,” the pastor told the outlet.

Gualtieri confirmed Monday that Dugmore, a 19-year department veteran, was being investigated, but declined additional comment, according to the Tampa Bay Times.

The sheriff did acknowledge, however, that a lawsuit filed by a black inmate last year accusing Dugmore of using racial slurs toward him and body-slamming him factored into his decision to launch the probe.

A judge ultimately tossed the lawsuit in January when the inmate, Keytric Isaas, failed to respond to a motion to dismiss filed by sheriffs office, the newspaper reports.

Dugmore had not been placed on any type of administrative leave as of Tuesday, a sheriff’s spokesman told The Post.