Missouri cop calls Ferguson overtime his 'Michael Brown bonus'

A St. Louis County police officer is being investigated for making a flippant reference to Michael Brown‘s life on social media.

The Guardian reports that patrolman Todd J. Bakula took to Facebook to post about how he spent his “Michael Brown bonus”—i.e., the money he earned while working overtime during the one-year anniversary of the day Ferguson, Mo., police officer Darren Wilson shot and killed 18-year-old Michael Brown.

“I decided to spend my annual Michael Brown bonus on a nice relaxing bicycle ride trip to Defiance,” Bakula writes in the post, obtained via Gawker. “Eating dinner now and staying at a bed and breakfast tonight. And heres [sic] to my awesome wife for doing this with me while being 18 weeks pregnant.”

The remark’s offhand nature basically runs up against the phrase “black lives matter” on every level—an implication made even more insidious by the thought that Bakula might not have been the only officer referring to his overtime pay as a “Michael Brown bonus.”

Bakula’s comments are being internally investigated, according to The Guardian. Shawn McGuire, a St. Louis County Media Relations officer said:

We understand the post is controversial… The St. Louis County police department takes these allegations very serious [sic] in every case. The remarks on the Facebook page will be investigated by our department.

Fusion reached out to McGuire, who confirmed The Guardian‘s reporting. McGuire also said that the department has a social media policy, but would not clarify further.