By Andy Rathbun

St. Paul Pioneer Press

ST. PAUL — Leaders of local African-American communities are demanding that the city fire the St. Paul police officer who suggested on Facebook that people run over Black Lives Matters protesters.

Members of the St. Paul Black Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance, NAACP and African American Leadership Council met Monday at New Hope Baptist Church in St. Paul to voice their reaction to Sgt. Jeffrey Rothecker’s post, which included instructions on how to avoid being charged with a crime if drivers struck someone.

Rothecker apologized for the post last week, but Nathaniel Khaliq, former head of the St. Paul chapter of the NAACP, said during Monday’s press conference that he and local leaders have “zero tolerance or acceptance” for the officer’s apology.

“We demand that not only that officer be fired, but we demand that the city attorney … the county attorney and the Justice Department, under the color of the law, look into seeing if there were some civil-rights violations,” Khaliq said. “We want this action taken as soon as possible.”

Tonya Tennessen, spokeswoman for St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman, said Friday that an internal investigation continues and that the city has not ruled out pursuing criminal charges.

Khaliq said an internal investigation should look at whether police or others knew about the comment posted to a Facebook in advance of a Jan. 18 march and whether any other officers have posted similar comments to social media.

Khaliq said this was “one of the most egregious” incidents in the years he and others have spoken out about police misconduct.

“We all know that all the issues we got, with mental illness and the deep-rooted racism that exists, that this could have inspired or provoked someone to take action against innocent marchers,” he said. “Many of us have been out there marching with Black Lives Matter, so any of us could have been a victim.”

Khaliq went on to say he and others will pay close attention to how local officials handle the situation.

“We want them to do what they’re supposed to, and that is protect us,” he said. “Everybody is talking about safety and wanting to keep Americans safe. We’re Americans … and we got some local threats that we’re concerned about.”