Suspended Athens Sheriff Pat Kelly posted a status to his personal Facebook page Tuesday that seemed to reference news surrounding Eric Garner, an unarmed black man who was killed in July by an arresting police officer in New York City.
The police officer put Garner in a chokehold until his death, despite Garner gasping “I can’t breathe” several times. Last week, a grand jury in Staten Island elected to not indict the officer.
On Dec. 9, Kelly’s Facebook status read:
“Absolutely breath taking, and not in a good way! Ladies and gentleman, before you smother your self and everyone around you with your cologne or perfume, remember 'I can’t breathe'! Some guy on our flight wore some nasty cologne. We were at the movies recently and some lady had it on so thick I could smell it days later. Just an observation!”
Kelly was indicted on 25 criminal charges earlier this year including theft in office, money laundering and perjury and is awaiting a trial date of Jan. 26. Until a verdict is reached in the case, Kelly is suspended from office. Rodney Smith has been serving as interim Athens County Sheriff.
Shortly after the status was posted, Ohio University students took screen shots and posted them to Twitter.
The status has since been removed.
Some students believe Kelly is making fun of the “I Can’t Breathe” movement.
“While student's protest, indicted athens sheriff jokes about #ICan’tBreathe,” Zach Oden said in a tweet to The Post.
Both Kelly and Smith declined to comment.
