Port of Seattle Police Officer Greg Anderson faces disciplinary action after posting a video on Instagram that went viral after he suggested law enforcement officers defy stay-at-home orders, according to KOMO.
KOMO also reported that Anderson refused requests made by his superiors to delete the post, leading the department to accuse him of insubordination.
Anderson told the news agency he did not regret making the post and that he stands by his original message.
Anderson is on paid administrative leave pending an investigation, according to a statement made by the department.
“I don’t want to see the citizens get to a point where we have to defend our Constitutional rights against the government,” the news agency quoted Anderson saying.
In his video, Anderson said he wanted people to do what they felt comfortable doing.
"I’m seeing people arrested or cited for going to church," Anderson said in the video. "I don’t know what crime people are committing for doing nails in their own house. We have to ask ourselves as officers, is what I am doing right?"
KOMO reported that Anderson said in the video that if the stay-at-home orders are expanded, he urged other officers not to comply.
Police Chief Rod Covey issued a statement on the situation, stating that he and Anderson have always had a mutually respectful relationship.
"That respect continues to this day," Covey said in his statement, KOMO reported. "He is clearly a good police officer and an exceptional American. That said, as a police officer wearing one of our uniforms, his right to speech has limitations on which he has been well-trained and that he has understood since joining the policing profession."
Covey said in the statement that Anderson can express his opinions just like every other American, but not while on duty, in uniform, in a patrol car and wearing a police badge.
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