A Coronado city official has been placed on administrative leave after he and his wife were recorded making derogatory statements about Asians over the weekend in Newport Beach. The official’s wife has also been fired from her job as a private school teacher in Temecula.
NBC News reports the couple is Roger Miller, the city's director of recreation and golf services, and his wife Sandra Miller.
The video's poster says the couple made racist comments “out of nowhere” about Chinese people spreading COVID-19 prior to filming.
In the video, the female says "I love that we are not in their country. I love that we are not communism. I love that very much.'' She also tells the person filming to “go back to China.”
Coronado City Manager Tina Friend said Sunday that the city “took immediate action'' as soon as it learned of the incident. The employee was placed on leave pending a full investigation.
”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,” said Friend.
Linfield Christian School announced Sandra Miller had been terminated from her job there Monday.
“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,” the school said.