An Idaho deputy marshal who was seen in a viral TikTok video mocking LeBron James' now-deleted tweet about Ma'Khia Bryant's death was fired for unrelated policy violations.
The marshal, Nate Silvester, was terminated from the Bellevue Marshal’s Office effective Thursday, Mayor Ned Burns said in a Facebook post. The firing was not due to Silvester's social media posts.
"During the week of May 20th, while on shift Deputy Marshal Silvester violated several clearly established City of Bellevue and State of Idaho Policing policies. After his previous policy violations Deputy Marshal Silvester was placed on probation and was on, what is called, a 'last chance agreement' with his superior officers," the mayor said.
According to Burns, the decision to fire Silvester came from the Bellevue Marshals Office. The agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Saturday.
"The policy violations have nothing to do with the tone or the tenor of his speech that he posts online," the mayor said. "He was not terminated for the content of his speech; he was terminated for his failure to follow clearly laid out and well established policy."
Silvester posted the TikTok video — which has been viewed more than 6 million times — in April. In it, he pretends to radio to dispatch that he's arrived at a disturbance about a man trying to stab another man. He says to have "LeBron call my cellphone right away."
When he gets the pretend call, Silvester asks the Los Angeles Lakers player how he should handle the situation.
"Okay, well they're both Black. One guy is trying to stab another guy with a knife, deadly force is completely justified," Silvester says into the phone. "So you don't care if a Black person kills another Black person, but you do care if a white cop kills a Black person even if he's doing it to save the life of another Black person?"
Silvester says that James doesn't make "a whole lot of sense," but "then again you are really good at basketball so I guess I'll take your word for it."
The video was in response to James tweeting a photo that appeared to show the officer involved in the shooting of Bryant with the caption: "YOU'RE NEXT #ACCOUNTABILITY."
Bryant was killed in April by a Columbus, Ohio, police officer responding to a call about someone armed with a knife. Police said that the weapon was found near Bryant's body.
James later deleted his tweet, saying he took it down because it was "being used to create more hate."
The Bellevue Marshal's Office responded to Silvester's video saying in an April 27 Facebook post that "the statements made do NOT represent the Bellevue Marshal’s Office."