West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice delivered on his surname when he authorized the termination of a group of correctional officer cadets who gave the Nazi salute during a class photo.
Justice also fired two staffers at the academy and suspended four instructors without pay for their negligence in reporting the inflammatory episode, NBC News reports.
“This kind of behavior will not be tolerated on my watch in any agency of State government,” Justice said in a statement that was obtained by NBC. “We have a lot of good people in our Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety. But this incident was completely unacceptable. Now, we must continue to move forward and work diligently to make sure nothing like this ever happens again.”
The probe into the embarrassing episode found that “largely based on ignorance” and that “any overt motivation or intent that this was a discriminatory act,” according to Corrections and Rehabilitation Commissioner Betsy Jividen.
NBC News also reports that the cadets used the salute out of “respect” for the instructor, whose last name is Byrd. “They do that because I’m a hard-a– like Hitler,” a secretary said Byrd told her according to the findings in the probe.
Byrd reportedly had to take the photos multiple times because some cadets initially refused to perform the Nazi salute. NBC reports that cadets said they eventually acquiesced to Byrd’s demands for the salute out of fear they would not be allowed to graduate.
