New corrections officers fired over apparent Nazi salute

West Virginia's governor fired a group of recently graduated corrections officers Monday, after they made a gesture resembling a Nazi salute in their class photo. Governor Jim Justice also fired a staffer Monday at the state's corrections officer academy, the third staffer terminated in the scandal, and suspended four instructors without pay for failing to report the picture.

"This kind of behavior will not be tolerated on my watch in any agency of State government," Justice said in a statement. "We have a lot of top of the class photo that shows the graduating cadets raising their arms high.

"They do that because I'm a hard-ass like Hitler," a secretary said Byrd told her, according to the summary of the findings. The investigation found that Byrd took the photo and had to retake it a few times because everyone didn't initially participate in the gesture.

Ten cadets said they made the gesture because Byrd told them to, and they feared they wouldn't be able to graduate if they disobeyed an instructor's direction. An unnamed instructor brought concerns about the photo to a captain at the academy, according to the summary.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/new-corrections-officers-fired-over-apparent-nazi-salute/ar-BBYtmIu?li=BBnbfcL