BAY HARBOR ISLANDS, Fla. – A rally was held Saturday evening in support of a police officer who was recently suspended for supporting his wife’s controversial comments on social media.
Bay Harbor Islands Police Department Cpl. Pablo Lima was recently suspended for social media “likes” indicating support for anti-Muslim comments.
Some of the social media comments made were supporting controversial comments made by his wife, Hallandale Beach city Commissioner Anabelle Lima-Taub.
Lima-Taub had a major presence at the rally.
"We're here to support my husband," Lima-Taub said.
“Though he didn’t say anything mean, his wife said something, and he just supported his wife,” former mayor Linda Zilber said.
Lima-Taub’s husband was placed on administrative leave by Bay Harbor Islands’ police. Just days after Cpl. Lima submitted an application to become the town’s next police chief, comments and post likes on social media came into play -- things considered anti-Muslim, that some say the officer was liking and supporting openly online.
You may remember the fallout from a controversial post made by Commissioner Lima-Taub almost a year ago online. It called a Muslim congresswoman "a Hamas-loving anti-Semite," going on to say she wouldn't put it past her to "become a martyr and blow up Capitol Hill."
Pablo Lima is accused of liking some of the controversial comments made during that time, supporting and encouraging the tension.
“Have we gone so mad in our nation that if you do this then you get your entire career stained?” police labor expert John Rivera said.
“The content of the social media posts that were brought to our attention are not consistent with our town’s values and policies," Town Manager J.C. Jimenez said in a statement. "Cpl. Pablo Lima is currently on administrative leave pending the outcome of an internal affairs investigation.”
“I hope this goes much higher,” Rivera said. “Maybe into the court system.”