Police spokesman suspended after city sued over his Facebook comments

About two weeks after a federal lawsuit was filed against the city of Gastonia, the city suspended the Gastonia Police Department spokesman, who the lawsuit accuses of using the police department's Facebook page to harass a homeless veteran who was arrested in 2021.

Police Public Information Officer Rick Goodale was suspended without pay on July 13, Gastonia City Manager Michael Peoples said. Goodale was hired Aug. 16, 2021. His most recent annual salary was $63,020.

The city has not given a reason for the suspension. When he was suspended, Goodale's work cell phone number also was disconnected. He could not be reached for comment.

The lawsuit was filed June 30 by 39-year-old combat veteran Joshua Rohrer, who served in Iraq and Kuwait in 2004 and 2005. In it, Rohrer accuses Gastonia police of mistreating him during an arrest in October 2021 and harassing him afterward.

Rohrer was arrested Oct. 13, 2021 on allegations of panhandling and resisting arrest. He accused the police officers involved of using excessive force. During the arrest, police also tased his service dog, Sunshine Rae, and afterward, Sunshine escaped from where she was being held while he was in jail, ran into traffic, and was killed.

The charges in the Oct. 13 incident were dismissed as part of a plea deal.

The federal lawsuit names the police who arrested Rohrer, Officer Cierra Brooks and former Officer Maurice Taylor III, and it also names Goodale, who managed the police department's Facebook page before his suspension.

The lawsuit cites hundreds of Facebook comments in which the police department's Facebook page shares information about Rohrer's case and addresses critics directly, and questions why Rohrer, if he was wronged, hadn't sued the police department.

"And is there a pending lawsuit? As of yesterday, … there has been no lawsuit filed," the police department wrote.

In another, the police department wrote, "Your comment of 'wow, I hope he takes your city to the cleaners with the pending lawsuit' implies that there is a pending lawsuit. There in fact is not one."

The police department also argued that it was simply addressing misinformation about the case.

"Repeating lies from Josh's supporters who had free reign for nine months doesn't make them true," the police department said in one comment.

In many comments, the police department tagged Rohrer directly and asked why he wouldn't allow the page to comment on in the group he made for himself and his supporters. The police department also referred directly to details of Rohrer's case, as well as suggesting that readers look up a different court case involving Rohrer. The police department also appeared to blame Rohrer for Sunshine's fate.

"Perhaps if Mr. Rohrer would have exercised some form of control over Sunshine as required by the (Americans with Disabilities Act), (and he still refuses to say how he had any control over her), then perhaps she wouldn't have been put in the unfortunate position where she was allowed to roam free, bite an officer and then run off," the police department wrote.

This article originally appeared on The Gaston Gazette: Police spokesman suspended after city sued over his Facebook comments