SFPD veteran under fire for social media post mocking Brittney Griner

SAN FRANCISCO - A veteran San Francisco police officer is drawing fire for a meme mocking WNBA player Brittney Griner that he posted on his personal Facebook page.

Department veteran Ernie Ferrando waded into the politically fraught case of Griner, the basketball star found guilty of bringing cannabis-infused vape cartridges into Russia.

Ferrando posted a meme online. The first half refers to Griner questioning back in 2020 whether the national anthem should be played. The second half has her singing the anthem from a Russian jail cell. 

In response, another SFPD veteran, Jim Pera wrote "She can rot over there forever as far as I'm concerned."

Ferrando then replies, "absolutely!!!" and posted a US flag emoji.

MIssion Local reporter Eleni Balakrishnan broke the story and spoke to Ferrando who initially said he couldn't comment. But then he continued talking and defended the post "by mentioning the First Amendment and, you know, people post all sorts of things on Facebook," Balakrishnan said.

"It seemed like he was kind of acknowledging that this would have been within his rights in any case," she said.

Ferrando served in the SFPD from 1977 until 2010, when he served as lieutenant of the gang task force. He was rehired in 2013 to work part-time, doing background checks for new officer candidates.

Balakrishnan says department policy requires officers to exercise good judgment when it comes to personal use of social media.

"It's kind of a gray area with personal social media and what members do on their own time, but they are expected to be you know be courteous, not use harsh language, be respectful," she said.."

John Crew monitored the police department as former director of the police practices project at the ACLU of Northern California. He says he's stunned by the Facebook post.

"That suggests not only a problem with his attitude, but the much more significant problem here is the culture problem within the SFPD, that this sort of stuff still goes on in 2022," Crew said.

In a statement, the department said Thursday, "While the views expressed by Ernest Ferrando on his personal social media account do not reflect those of the San Francisco Police Department, we respect his right to express his opinion. Mr. Ferrando is a retired San Francisco police officer. He currently serves as a part-time, at-will, civilian employee with the department. The SFPD Internal Affairs Division has opened an investigation into this matter."