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Tennessee Cop Fired for High-Fiving Man Who Used N-Word

Officer Seth Schilling claimed he’d high-fived the man because he was a Trump supporter.

A police officer in Franklin, Tennessee, was fired last November after he was captured on video high-fiving a man who’d just used the n-word, the Nashville Tennessean reports. Seth Schilling was reportedly on-duty and responding to a call from a bar that had complained of a customer who was “harassing people” and “throwing the n-word around,” documents say. When he arrived to the bar, a man in the parking lot asked if it was against the law to use the slur. Another man joined in, shouting, “(N-word)! See! First Amendment! First Amendment!” The second man then said he supported Trump, and the officer agreed. Schilling reportedly smiled and high-fived the man after he said the slur, according to documents.

A video of the encounter circulated around social media, prompting complaints that launched an investigation into Schilling’s behavior. When questioned about the high-five, Schilling initially told officials it was for the Trump-supporter comment. He then claimed it was for the freedom of speech comment, insisting it wasn’t in support of the slur.