SAN ANTONIO – A San Antonio Police detective was suspended 30 days this summer after making a social media post in which he called Colin Kaepernick a terrorist sympathizer and asked when the former National Football League quarterback could be killed, SAPD records confirm.
A screenshot of the early January post from Detective Joseph Fech was sent to the KSAT 12 Defenders, who then asked SAPD officials if they were aware of it.
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SAPD discipline records show Fech was given a 30-day suspension in late June, which he then served from early July through early August.
Department records indicate Fech was off duty at the time of the post and was found to have violated rules for conduct and behavior.
In Fech’s post, he shared a pluralist.com article about Kaepernick’s comments following the death of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani in a U.S. ordered drone strike.
Following Soleimani’s death, Kaepernick tweeted multiple times from his verified account about the attack.
“America militarism is the weapon wielded by American imperialism, to enforce its policing and plundering of the non white world,” wrote Kaepernick.
America has always sanctioned and besieged Black and Brown bodies both at home and abroad. America militarism is the weapon wielded by American imperialism, to enforce its policing and plundering of the non white world.
— Colin Kaepernick (@Kaepernick7) January 4, 2020
Kaepernick, who played six seasons for the San Francisco 49ers, has not played in an NFL game since 2016.
He has remained a prominent civil rights activist and a lightning rod of controversy, however, after he sat during the playing of the national anthem prior to a 2016 preseason game and kneeled during the anthem in subsequent games.
Kaepernick has for years said he was bringing awareness to racial injustice and inequality and that his protest had nothing to do with the anthem itself or the military branches.