A St. Anthony’s coach was fired after he referred to a 9-year-old girl as a “total animal” in a social media post.
The firing was first reported by Patch.
Tom Ciancuielli, assistant coach of the junior varsity football team, posted the comment about the Rochester girl, who was pepper-sprayed by police on Friday. The incident was caught on video, and two Rochester officers have been suspended. Police were called to the scene of a family dispute and ended up handcuffing the girl and then pepper spraying her as she cried for her father and resisted sitting in a police car.
“She is a total animal and not following simple orders, totally justifiable,” Ciancuielli wrote, Patch reported.
“St. Anthony’s High School believes in the the democratic ideals of liberty, equality and the principle of law in a pluralist and multicultural society. The coach responsible for the social media post is no longer an employee of St. Anthony’s High School,” the school wrote in response.