A Kootenai County deputy prosecutor said Tuesday that a Facebook comment he made, suggesting genocide could happen if police stop patrolling black neighborhoods, was misunderstood.

Bryant Bushling, a deputy prosecutor here for five years, made and then edited a comment in response to a meme posted Sunday on the Facebook wall of Kootenai County Bailiff Todd Hartman. In a phone conversation with The Press Tuesday, Bushling said he edited the comment because it was not received in the way he intended.

The meme in question shows a photo of a white police officer and has text that states, "if we really wanted you dead all we'd have to do is stop patrolling your neighborhood... and wait." In his original response, Bushling wrote the following:

"Great point. Where the police are under attack from politicians, and the police become less aggressive, the murder rates go up. I say, let them have their neighborhoods. They will be like Rwanda in a matter of weeks"/Keith Cousins, Coeur d'Alene Press. More here.

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