Skip to main content
Saturday, November 14, 2026Nov 14
Subscribe
All Sections
Search
More

Georgia deputy suspended over Facebook comment about Arbery

The icons of Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp can be seen on the screen of a smartphone in Kempten, Germany, Monday, Oct. 4, 2021. The six-hour outage of Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp on Monday was a headache for many casual users. But the outage was far more serious for many people worldwide who rely on the social media sites to communicate with relatives, friends and neighbors and run their businesses. It's a stark reminder that many of the most popular ways to communicate are controlled by one company, Facebook. And any lengthy outage can have severe implications. (Karl-Josef Hildenbrand/dpa via AP)
The icons of Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp can be seen on the screen of a smartphone in Kempten, Germany, Monday, Oct. 4, 2021. The six-hour outage of Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp on Monday was a headache for many casual users. But the outage was far more serious for many people worldwide who rely on the social media sites to communicate with relatives, friends and neighbors and run their businesses. It's a stark reminder that many of the most popular ways to communicate are controlled by one company, Facebook. And any lengthy outage can have severe implications. (Karl-Josef Hildenbrand/dpa via AP)

By Associated Press 2 min read

WARNER ROBINS, Ga. (AP) – A Georgia sheriff’s deputy was suspended and faces being fired over comments posted on social media after a judge sentenced three white men to life imprisonment in the killing of Ahmaud Arbery, news outlets reported.

Reacting to a story on WGXA-TV’s Facebook page after the men were sentenced on their murder convictions in the shooting of Arbery, a Black man who was jogging through a neighborhood, someone wrote: “That criminal arbery still got the death penalty though.”

The comment was later deleted, but screenshots were shared with news outlets and the Houston County Sheriff’s Office, which investigated and subsequently suspended longtime deputy Paul Urhahn.

A letter from Sheriff Cullen Talton, posted on his department’s Facebook page, said the action was taken because of conduct that discredited the department and was unbecoming of an officer, WGXA reported.

Urhahn will be fired effective Jan. 20 unless he appeals, the sheriff’s letter said.