Philadelphia court supervisor fired after video shows him tearing down signs and saying black lives don’t matter
An employee of Philadelphia Family Court was fired Monday after video surfaced showing him ripping signs off a fence and responding to someone who says “Black lives matter” with “not to me, they don’t,” a court spokesperson said.
The spokesperson confirmed the person in the video, Michael Henkel, was fired from his job as a supervisor writ server based on multiple violations of the state court system’s Code of Conduct and the Non-Discrimination and Equal Employment Policy.
“The Court takes this incident very seriously and believes Mr. Henkel’s behavior as shown in the video is egregious and totally unacceptable for an employee of the Courts,” family court spokesperson Martin O’Rourke said in a statement.
CNN has not been able to reach Henkel for comment or to verify what led up to the incident in the recording.
As the man in the video is taking posters off a fence near a Philadelphia playground, he says to someone off camera, “My taxes pay for this place, just so you know. so I can do whatever I want…I’m always around here too.”
A woman responded, “Great. I live right here. … Black Lives Matter!” The man then said, “Not to me, they don’t,” as he continued to take the signs down.
The identity of the other person speaking in the video is not known.
