Georgia deputy suspended after reported comments on Ahmaud Arbery cause investigation

UPDATE: The Houston County Sheriff’s Office reported Jan. 19 that Paul Urhahn resigned from the department after choosing not to appeal his termination.

The original story is below.

A Georgia sheriff’s deputy has been suspended “pending termination” after he was accused of posting a social media comment that called slain jogger Ahmaud Arbery a “criminal.”

Arbery, who was Black, was chased on a neighborhood street and killed by three white men, who were convicted of murder in a Georgia court in November.

Houston County Sheriff Cullen Talton announced in a Jan. 10 Facebook post that Deputy Paul Urhahn was “suspended without pay pending termination” following a recent internal affairs investigation.

Specifics of Urhahn’s case were not given in the post. However, Talton said the deputy is accused of violating standard operating procedures involving conduct.

“An officer must at all times, on and off duty, conduct him/herself in a manner which does not bring discredit to the department or county,” Talton said in his statement.

“Conduct unbecoming of an officer shall include conduct ... which has a tendency to destroy public respect for employees and confidence in the department.”

Urhahn has 10 days to appeal the decision, or face losing his job Jan. 20, officials said.

The suspension comes after he was accused of postinga now-deleted Facebook comment on WGXA trial coverage, saying: “That criminal Arbery still got the death penalty though,” the station reported.

The station’s Jan. 7 post noted “the men who chased and killed Ahmaud Arbery have been sentenced to life in prison, with a judge denying any chance of parole for the father and son who armed themselves and initiated the deadly pursuit.”

During a sentencing hearing, Superior Court Judge Timothy Walmsley noted 25-year-old “Arbery left his home for a jog and ended up running for his life for five minutes as the men chased him until they finally cornered him,” the Associated Press reported.

William “Roddie” Bryan, who was among the three men convicted, “recorded cellphone video of Travis McMichael firing close-range shotgun blasts into Arbery,” AP said.

This story was originally published January 11, 2022 at 5:06 PM with the headline "Georgia deputy suspended after reported comments on Ahmaud Arbery cause investigation."