College safety officer fired over racist, pro-Nazi photos

A public safety officer at two Orange County campuses lost one of his jobs and is being investigated after he was accused of posting pro-Nazi and racist photos on Instagram.

Carlos Vazquez, 31, was terminated from his job as a public safety officer at Golden West College in Huntington Beach and put on administrative leave from his post as a parking officer at UC Irvine, after a report from CBS2.

The photos under his Instagram handle “clos_vaz” included a photo of Adolf Hitler with children and a caption that read, “I love how attentive my kids are when it comes to real WW2 history,” the station reported.

Jon Arnold, Golden West College public safety director, declined to speak specifically about why Vazquez was let go.

“Anyone that is expressing those prejudices and anti-Semitic opinion is someone I would not want to have working for me,” Arnold said. “It’s offensive and goes against what we stand for at the college.”

Vazquez worked weekends, mostly handling parking enforcement, Arnold said. He was an at-will employee at the campus since 2010 and could be terminated at any time.

UC Irvine placed him on administrative leave, spokeswoman Cathy Lawhon said. He was a full-time parking officer at the campus.

“He’s on leave pending an investigation into his conduct,” Lawhon said. “His views do not comport at all with what UCI values most, and if it makes students feel unsafe, we need to look at that.”

The Instagram account has since been deleted.

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adolfo.flores@latimes.com

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