New Jersey Guard Sacked for Mocking George Floyd Killing Loses Appeal
On March 26, 2025, a New Jersey appellate court ruled against former state Department of Corrections (DOC) guard Joseph DeMarco in an appeal to his firing for taking part in a crude counter-protest to Black Lives Matter demonstrations, which erupted after the May 2020 murder of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis cops.
DeMarco was off-duty in June 2020 from the job he’d held for 18 years at Bayside State Prison and working at the Franklinville firewood business of his brother, James, when he used his cellphone to film his brother and nephew as they re-enacted Floyd’s murder. In the video, a bystander can be heard shouting, “Black lives matter,” to which one of the three DeMarcos replied “to no one.”
DOC then fired Joseph DeMarco for “reckless and inflammatory” actions that “show[ed] a profound disregard for consideration of public order and safety,” a decision upheld by the state Civil Service Commission in September 2023, as PLN reported. [See: PLN, Apr. 2024, p.37.] He was also cited for having an authorized second job.
The union representing state prison guards, Police Benevolent Association Local 105, refused to defend DeMarco, who nevertheless pursued appeals all the way to the Appellate Division of State Superior Court. Judges there rejected the former guard’s argument that his actions did not rise to “conduct unbecoming” and upheld his firing. See: In re DeMarco, 2025 N.J. Super. Unpub. LEXIS 468 (Super. Ct. App. Div.).
Additional source: New Jersey Advance Media
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