Officials probe mysterious origin of Nazi symbol on fired cop's flashlight

SS runes were found carved on the service flashlight of a cop fired after repeatedly punching a handcuffed black man, and everyone is scrambling to solve the mystery of how it got there.

After Leroy Hair was fired, a police-issued flashlight carved with a racist Nazi symbol and the words "The Wig Splitter" was found in his car, but he denies owning it.

Hair eventually was arrested and accused of using excessive force against the man in 2016, but a judge acquitted him at a trial that bore no mention of the flashlight. He was never accused of using the flashlight, though another officer had used one to hit the unruly man earlier in the confrontation.

Hair is suing his former employers, claiming that the beating of James Terry was a group effort and the flashlight was a device used to blame him exclusively. Magistrate Amy Mikell's acquitting him shows it, his lawyers claim. Terry won a $250,000 settlement over the injuries he received.

The city has not determined who was responsible for the Nazi insignia, she said. A police spokesman declined to comment, referring questions to attorneys. "We didn't try to hide it," Cleveland said of the flashlight. "We don't condone it."

Good to hear that the city of North Charleston doesn't expressly condone beating handcuffed black men with metal flashlights inscribed with Nazi runes.