# The Officer who mocked NBA star LeBron James in a TikTok video has been fired.



## RodneyFarva (Jan 18, 2007)

Total bull shit.


Bellevue, ID – The Bellevue deputy marshal who mocked NBA star LeBron James in a now-viral TikTok video has been fired.

Bellevue Deputy Marshal Nate Silvester’s employment was terminated on Thursday after officials determined he “violated several clearly established City of Bellevue and State of Idaho Policing policies,” Bellevue Mayor Ned Burns said in a press release on May 27.

Deputy Marshal Silvester was initially suspended without pay for one week as a result of the April 24 TikTok video.

“After his previous policy violations Deputy Marshal Silvester was placed on probation and was on, what is called, a ‘last chance agreement’ with his superior officers,” Burns said. “Because of his continued policy violations, the Marshal has terminated Mr. Sylvester effective May 27th, 2021.”

The mayor claimed the video had nothing to do with Deputy Marshal Silvester’s ouster.

“The policy violations have nothing to do with the tone or the tenor of his speech that he posts online,” Burns wrote. “He was not terminated for the content of his speech; he was terminated for his failure to follow clearly laid out and well established policy.”

The mayor said he and the city council had nothing to do with the decision to fire Deputy Marshal Silvester.

“The decision was solely made by the command structure within the Bellevue Marshals office,” he said. “The City Council and I respect the way the Marshal runs her department, and we are supportive of the decision that was made in regards to consequences for not following policy.”

“We wish Mr. Silvester the best, and we ask for calm and understanding,” Burns concluded.

Now-former Deputy Marshal Silvester confirmed his firing during an appearance on FOX’s Sean Hannity show on Thursday.

“I’m the latest target of cancel culture, Sean. That’s all it is,” he said.

“None of my other videos that depicted me in my uniform or that involved body camera footage – none of those mattered. They didn’t care about those,” Silvester noted. “It wasn’t until my LeBron James TikTok surfaced and struck a political nerve that they started to pay attention and complain about it and came up with forms of discipline.”

Silvester, who landed a book deal in the wake of his TikTok video, said he is still trying to wrap his mind around the events that have transpired and that he has not decided if he will sue the department or not.

“I was just fired this morning, so I’m still trying to get my head on straight from all of it,” he told Hannity. “I do have a meeting with my attorney later tonight.”

Silvester said he has also considered relocating to an area that is supportive of law enforcement officers in order to potentially continue his career.

“I’ve gotten several different offers from different leaders and agencies and elected officials from all over the country, so that’s not something that’s off the table,” he told Hannity.

Silvester revealed earlier this month that he recently signed a deal with Di Angelo Publications to write a book titled “Never Off Duty,” KTVB reported.

He said he is also establishing a foundation to help support law enforcement officers – a venture that was made possible by generous donations to his Go Fund Me campaign.

The fundraising effort has raised over $533,000 so far.

A portion of those funds will also be given to the First Responders Children’s Foundation, Silvester noted.

Deputy Marshal Silvester posted the now-viral TikTok video shortly after the Los Angeles Lakers star posted a still photo of the Columbus police officer who fatally shot 16-year-old Ma’Khia Bryant as she was trying to stab another female, the Idaho Mountain Express reported.

The Columbus Division of Police has since identified the officer as Officer Nicholas Reardon, according to WBNS.

James captioned the picture of Officer Reardon – “YOU’RE NEXT” – followed by an hourglass that implied a countdown, and the hashtag “#ACCOUNTABILITY.”

The since-deleted tweet sparked immediate outrage on social media, including from a number of professional athletes.

Deputy Marshal Silvester was one of many law enforcement officers who posted short video clips showing themselves pretending to reach out to the NBA star for advice on how to handle an array of urgent situations.

“Dispatch, I’ve arrived at that disturbance,” the deputy marshal said as he sat in his patrol vehicle with his radio in his hand. “Can you have LeBron call my cell phone right away please? Thank you.”

Deputy Marshal Silvester then rolled down his window and reservedly asked someone outside to put down a weapon.

“Excuse me, sir. Excuse me. No, can you put the knife down please sir?” he asked. “No, sir – don’t stab him. No, stop stabbing – oh hold on. Hold on, it’s LeBron.”

The deputy marshal then focused his attention on his pretend cell phone call with James.

“Yeah, it’s me again,” he told the NBA star. “Listen, I’m out here at this disturbance call and there’s a guy trying to stab another guy with a knife. What do you think I should do?”

Deputy Marshal Silvester then acted as if James asked him what color skin the individuals had.

“Why does that matter?” he asked. “Well, okay, they’re both black.”

Deputy Marshal Silvester noted that deadly force would be completely justified due to the fact that the suspect was actively trying to stab the victim, then paused as if he was listening to instructions from the other end of the line.

“I see. So, you don’t care if a black person kills another black person, but you do care if a white cop kills a black person, even if he’s doing it to save the life of another black person?” he asked.

“I mean, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, but then again, you are really good at basketball, so I guess I’ll take your word for it,” the deputy marshal said. “Alright, thanks LeBron.”

He then waved out his window and told the pretend suspect and victim that they were on their own.

“Good luck!” he said.

The original video has been viewed more than 6 million times so far.


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## HistoryHound (Aug 30, 2008)

I thought it was funny. However, I can't imagine that the department doesn't have a social media policy that he likely violated. Sure it was probably one of those things no one cared about until someone did, but in any job you have to know that just because they let it slide, just because other people do it that doesn't mean that they won't use it against you when it's convenient.


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## USAF286 (May 20, 2011)

Posting anything nowadays on social media in uniform where your agency can be identified is questionable...it’s unfortunate that he got fired because it was an accurate video IMO. 

Leave the satire videos to the retired guys like “Mike the Cop” and “Donut Operator”


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