A Firestone Complete Auto Care employee in Maryville, Tenn., resigned from his job following a viral Facebook post wishing death on a police officer, according to local media. 
The man’s viral post read: “To the Blount County motorcycle patrol officer on Morganton Rd at 6:45 this morning, I hope you meet a semi head on at high speed. You just revived my complete dislike for cops.”
The man said he received a speeding ticket on his way to work and was having a bad day when he decided to post on Facebook, reported WVLT. He removed the posting shortly after, but it had already gone viral on the Web.
“I sat down at the computer and I was mad at the world. I posted something about the Blount County officer that I shouldn’t have said. I didn’t mean it. I was mad,” the man told WVLT. “They’ve got a hard job, often thankless. I am sorry for what I said and to the officer who gave me the ticket: I did not mean what I said.”
Since posting the man has received hate mail on Facebook from people all over the country. Additionally, several posts were made on Firestone’s Facebook page demanding the employee be fired and criticizing the company for hiring him.
Firestone Complete Auto Care responded several of the comments saying it was aware of the situation, was taking it very seriously and had escalated it up the proper channels to be looked into further. Additionally, the company said it did not have the same opinions as its employee.
“Firestone does not share the same opinion of this one individual. Firestone is a company steeped in history and traditions, one of those being ongoing respect for every Law Enforcement member across our country. We have sent this to the proper channel to have it looked into. Thank you for taking the time to send this our way,” Firestone responded to one commenter.
The employee voluntarily resigned from Firestone Complete Auto Care to not cause any more problems and has since apologized to the officer on Facebook.
