A California city official and his wife, a teacher, are facing the consequences of their actions after video of them making racist remarks towards an Asian couple went viral on social media.
Roger Miller and his wife, Sandie a.k.a Sandra Miller, went viral after the Asian couple shared video footage of their encounter with them at the Fashion Island Mall in Newport Beach, California on Jan. 29, 2022.
'Go Back to China'
The person who filmed the video told SanDiegoVille that he and his girlfriend were shopping when the "racist" couple walked by them, made eye contact and made statements like "oooh COVID is gonna get you" and "those Chinese spreading COVID." The Millers then continued to talk loudly amongst themselves intentionally so the racial slurs and comments can be heard by the victim and his girlfriend.
In the video, the Millers are heard making racist statements like "I'm glad we're not communist" and "I'm glad we're no their country." When they're confronted by the Asian couple, they try to justify their behavior by saying, "America is a free country" and tell them to "Go back to China!"
Roger Miller Placed on Leave, Sandie's Employment Terminated
Not long after the video went viral, popular social media user @thatdaneshguy, who is known for identifying people and holding them accountable for their behavior, identified Roger, 55, as the director of recreation and golf services in Coronado, California. Danesh also ID'd Sandie or Sandra, 56, as a teacher employed by Linfield Christian School in Temecula.
The City of Coronado and Linfield Christian School issued statements saying they were investigating the video. On Monday, the City of Coronado posted an update saying Roger had been placed on leave pending an investigation.
"Yesterday, the City of Coronado learned of a video circulating on social media featuring the actions of a City employee. The makers of the video alleged the City employee made a series of racist statements leading up to the filming of the video," Coronado City Manager, Tina Friend, said in the statement.
"We acted immediately, and the person involved has been placed on administrative leave pending an independent, full and fair investigation," she added. "Our City's culture and values are core to who we are and that culture is based on professionalism, service and respect. We take matters such as this extremely seriously and the City has zero tolerance for all forms of discrimination."
Linfield Christian School also put out a statement saying Sandra's employment has been terminated. "Linfield is aware of the video involving Ms Sandra Miller. After speaking with Ms Miller regarding the incident, Linfield has terminated her employment immediately," the school said in its statement on Facebook. "The statements made by Ms Miller do not reflect the beliefs of Linfield, are inconsistent with Linfield's mission statement, and fail to meet the behavior Linfield expects employees to model for its students."
