From USA Today:
A man caught on video verbally berating a security guard and yelling racial slurs outside a Social Security office in an Atlanta suburb has been arrested, police say. …
Robert Burke, 65, was identified as the man at the center of a viral video showing him being escorted from the Social Security office as he threatened to physically harm the security guard. …
Burke is heard telling the security guard to "take a shot (expletive)" and saying he would "beat the (expletive)" out of him.
"I'm a (expletive) citizen," Burke continues, and then he refers to the security guard, who is Black, using a racial slur repeatedly.
As he walks into the parking lot, he yells back to the guard "What are you going to do, it's free speech" before continuing to use expletives and slurs. …
While this may have been the most explosive encounter, employees of the Social Security office told police Burke had been a problem before and had caused previous disturbances at that location. …
27 comments:
Are you sure it wasn’t Stephen Miller?
Economic anxiety and longer wait times makes for a volatile situation in an understaffed SSA workforce.
Not a huge deal at all. Let him reasonably blow off some steam; have you seen how long the wait times are these days? Then the guard should ask him how we can help him and if his problem was solved. His anger would turn into gratitude.
I‘ll say what we’re all thinking: pretty obvious which candidate this guy voted for in the last presidential election.
"Robert Burke, 65..."
I bet he missed his IEP.
SSA employees get incoming from management and the public. It is very satisfying job since one is helping the public but it comes at a high cost. One’s health deteriorates and the question is asked if the job is worth it.
A normal day in most field offices.
In other news, dog bites man.
I wonder if management at this office took a few minutes from their hour long “ meeting” to restrict access to this individual.
Employees of the Social Security office told police Burke had been a problem before and had caused previous disturbances at that location.
Does this fall in the “reasonable” category?
Burke is heard telling the security guard to "take a shot (expletive)" and saying he would "beat the (expletive)" out of him.
Threatening a federal employee, even off-duty, is a serious federal crime under 18 U.S.C. § 115, punishable by fines and imprisonment, because it aims to impede or retaliate against their official duties, potentially including family members. Penalties increase with the severity of the threat, especially if weapons or bodily injury are involved, and apply if the threat makes a reasonable person fear for the official's safety.
Key Legal Statutes & Concepts
18 U.S.C. § 115 (Influencing, impeding, or retaliating against a Federal official): This is the primary law, criminalizing threats, assaults, or murders against federal officials or their family members to impede their work or retaliate against them.
"True Threat": Courts determine if a threat is credible, meaning a reasonable recipient would interpret it as a serious expression of intent to harm, regardless of the speaker's subjective intent.
Scope: Applies to various federal employees, law enforcement, judges, and their immediate families.
Penalties & Consequences
Fines & Imprisonment: Can range from a fine and up to 5 years for a general threat, to more significant time if it involves assault or the use of a deadly weapon.
Job-Related Issues: For the employee, such threats often trigger workplace violence protocols, leave (like weather & safety leave), and safety plans, as per the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) guidelines.
This next level trolling. Nice job but this is BS if you read the article. Guy has caused problems before.
I wonder if the manager wrote a report and contacted the proper authorities or did he go back to his monthly report clear stats.
HAHA! Sounds about right for the ghoul.
Why was Robert Burke given a free pass? Isn’t it against the law to threaten a federal employee?
As he walks into the parking lot, he yells back to the guard "What are you going to do, it's free speech" before continuing to use expletives and slurs.
Yes, a normal day and this gentleman is well known to everyone in tge office
It says right in the first sentence that he was arrested. Do you really think that amounts to a free pass, or did you just not read the post/article before spouting off?
Why was Burke not arrested at the scene? He threatened a federal employee. What makes matters worse is that he’s a repeat offender.
Burke is heard telling the security guard to "take a shot (expletive)" and saying he would "beat the (expletive)" out of him.
Does the rule of law apply these days?
I was threatened by a claimant about 18
Months ago over the phone. He was tracked down, arrested and sent to jail for two years. He threatened to kill me.
We have had other incidents and the AD and mgmt refuse to ban the person. He came into our office and threatened a co worker. Basically said “I hope you burn in hell you F’ing beyatch” he has had issues with CPS as well. But mgmt refuses to do anything. The guard was not at his post because he spends his time outside vaping, on his cell or with his feet on the DMs desk shooting the breeze. We wanted him fired but nothing. I filed a grievance and still waiting. Mgmt does not give two $hits about our safety!
Management treats its employees like peons. There have been a few incidents in our office but our employees complain and make sure that management addresses the issue.
Lots of folks here commenting on how it's against the law to threaten a federal employee, which is correct. Now, if you keep to consistent logic here, think about many of the ICE protesters.
Ignore the trolls.
Please go back under the bridge, troll.
I hope you burn in hell is not a threat. I'm going to wait for you to leave, dump gasoline on you, and light you on fire is a threat. Or I'm going to start this building on fire is a threat. Wishing harm upon someone isn't a direct threat. We can't ban every person that doesn't like us.
SSA should spend a lot more time teaching employees how to handle difficult customers / deescalate. We have a lot of employees that do the opposite. And we live in a society today where customers come in knowing they can challenge us and expect us to fail at doing things right. We also have employees that say things like, I don't get paid enough to deal with this crap. Just ban this person so I don't have to deal with them. The concern between threats, banning, and handling customers well is delicate.
There’s a difference. Social Security employees don’t mask up, break windows, drag innocent citizens and legal immigrants into unmarked cars and take the to undisclosed locations for undisclosed lengths of time.
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