(This post originally appeared on Bus Leagues Baseball.com)
A few weeks ago, I wrote about the heckler who harassed Carl Crawford before a New Hampshire Fisher Cats game. I wrote that fans will be fans and people will be people and some people just don't like certain types of other people. It's not pretty, it's not fair, nor in most circles is it socially acceptable, but it is life.
However, one of the caveats I mentioned was that "if the person who called Crawford a “racial slur” has a history in the area of racism then he becomes a public figure and then perhaps the locals can do something about it".
Not only does the person in question has an alleged history of hatred, it also seems he is was a public figure prior to the incident. Double whammy.
Recent reports say the heckler was now-former Leominster, Massachusetts police officer John Perreault. Sure enough, as a public figure, Perreault faced the reaper for his actions. Not only is he accused of harassing Crawford, but Perreault also has a history of not being nice to black people.
According to Perreault's lawyer, Joseph Sandulli, Perreault said derogatory words to Crawford to insult his play, not his race. Perreault was accused of calling Crawford a "Monday", which before this incident was best known for being a day of the week. That's obviously not how Perreault meant it. According to Urban Dictionary and Indian-Canadian comedian Russell Peters, Mondays can also be "a word that can be used to describe a black person without insulting them with them knowing". Now you know, and knowing is half the battle.
The other half of the battle is the counter-attack. Perreault was fired from the police force on Thursday the 26th.
So Perreault tried to insult Crawford without him knowing, only Crawford or someone else knew the word Perreault was using and now Perreault is out of a job.
Fans will be fans, but some fans are idiots.