Edgewater police officers resign

EDGEWATER, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35) - A newly released internal affairs report sheds light on why two Edgewater Police officers suddenly resigned in October. 

According to the documents, several officers were in a group text chat when one of them went to a superior about racist and derogatory messages.  

Edgewater Police say when Sgt. Matthew Snyder and Officer William Wetherell were confronted about the texts, they immediately resigned. The new documents detail what the men are accused of sending. 

They say in September, Snyder sent a meme saying, “THIS JUST IN…. NO WORK BOOTS WERE STOLEN IN THE LOOTING.”

They say Wetherell responded saying, “Because black people don’t steal things for work.” 
The report says several hours later, an officer sent a picture to the group of a rifle he had just bought. It says Snyder sent a meme back saying, “BLACK LOOTERS MATTER” and then asks about the gun. 

The report says Snyder then texted, “had a nice one up north sold it though nothing big enough here to shoot with it other than blacks.” 

Officials say Wetherell also sent a text using a racial slur. 

The texts were reported in October. The internal investigation was released to the media Wednesday. It appears the other officers in the chat have been cleared of any wrongdoing. 

We reached out to the city manager, police chief and mayor for an interview, to which none of them agreed.