GEORGIA: Officer Fired For Flying Confederate Flag Sues Department
The Georgia police officer who was terminated earlier this year for flying a Confederate flag at her Georgia home is suing her former place of employment.
AllOnGeorgia reported on the story 20-year veteran of the Roswell Police Department back in June. Silvia Cotriss, a woman who had achieved the rank of sergeant, was fired because of “conduct unbecoming of an officer” appealed her termination back in June.
Photo: Roswell Police Department
“She was displaying her pride in her Southern heritage and honoring her recently deceased husband,” the lawsuit said. “The Confederate flag [is a] generally accepted symbol of Georgia heritage.”
Cotriss’ home is not in the City of Roswell, but in neighboring Woodstock where the flag was displayed on her front porch.
CNN reports that the backers of her lawsuit have “ties to white supremacy,” but her supporters say otherwise. Cotriss’s attorney is partnering with the Southern Legal Resource Center, a North Carolina nonprofit whose Facebook page touts “Confederate Southern Americans” as “America’s most persecuted minority.”
In addition to compensatory damages, Cotriss wants her job back or the equivalent of 10 years of pay.
Roswell is about 25 minutes north of Atlanta.
–allongeorgia.com
