An officer and two supervisors of the Savannah Police Department have been placed on administrative leave while the department investigates a text message that includes an inappropriate meme sent by an officer.
The text features an image of a figure swinging by a noose from a tree and a reference to an SPD officer who discovered William Zachery Harvey, a man taken into police custody, hanging in an SPD interrogation room in what has been ruled a suicide on April 2.
On Monday, an SPD commander became aware of the meme and that it had been shared in a text message group with other SPD employees, according to an SPD press release. The official investigation was launched that same day resulting in the immediate placement of the officer on administrative leave. The investigation later identified a corporal and sergeant who were also placed on administrative leave.