Kevin Bronson, a Richland County, South Carolina administrator, was alleged to have told over 100 employees during a meeting that if all of their problems were particularly bad, they could go and kill themselves.
Several emergency medical service workers said Assistant County Administrator Kevin Bronson suggested his employees commit suicide if they are unhappy, after some complained about work conditions.
"If it's that bad, you can leave. You can leave or go kill yourself,” Bronson told his employees.
[...]
"The room erupted in emotion,” said an employee who didn’t want to be identified. “People were crying. People were yelling at him. One, we just lost a deputy because of suicide. Two, I don't think he understands the gravity of the situation. We're not here for the money, we're here because we love what we do."
Joking about suicide to a huge group of people, in general, isn’t a particularly smart idea. With mountains of evidence that EMS and first responders have considerably higher suicide rates than the average person, this statement is particularly callous. According to CBS News, Bronson has submitted a letter of resignation.
In his resignation letter, Bronson said that his comments to EMS workers were "horrible" and "terrible" things to say.
"My disrespectful words hurt and offended many people in the Richland County Government, especially the EMS workers, EMS workers across this country and surviving friends and families of loved ones of suicide," Bronson wrote. "I am sorry."
Bronson admitted that he hoped the controversy would eventually blow over. "While I wanted to right the ship by staying on board in my job, that is not appropriate," Bronson wrote.
According to CBS, the Richland County Administrator Gerald Seals said that while this could not be tolerated, he felt the incident had been “mischaracterized” by the public. We will have to remember Gerald Seals’ name because all of the reports about this didn’t seem to “mischaracterize” anything. It’s pretty clear what happened—and while your family may forgive you at the dinner table for saying some dumb shit like that, this is a job, and if you are going to oversee other people on that job there are parameters of what can and cannot happen in order to maintain the healthy level of trust and respect we all deserve. Does this mean that Bronson is a terrible person? No, it doesn’t. But he really messed up on this job and maybe he’ll learn from that, not feel that he’s being persecuted and move forward with his life—and even be better at his next job for it.