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Two Oregon law-enforcement officers are accused of bullying a Chicago woman on Facebook.

(The Associated Press)

UPDATE: Marion County sheriff says cyberbullying claim lodged against sergeant is under investigation

The presidential election has brought out the worst in a lot of Americans -- including, it appears, a couple of Oregon law-enforcement officers.

A Chicago woman, KATU reports, claims a Salem police officer and a Marion County sheriff's deputy cyberbullied her after she posted on Facebook that she planned to attend a Washington, D.C., women's march to protest the election of Donald Trump, who has faced multiple allegations of sexual predation.

"I definitely felt like I was being targeted or something," Liz McArthur told the local news channel.

"I don't know this man. We are not friends on Facebook. I live in Chicago," she wrote of the initial trolling by Marion County Sgt. James Coleman, in a letter she says she sent to the Marion County Sheriff's Office and the Salem Police Department. She added: "He came at ME. As I said, we are not friends on Facebook. He went WAY out of his way to come after me and at one point he even started tagging his friends in empty comments for ... backup? No idea. But then I had his Facebook mob after me. Which I understand isn't a real mob, but it was unwanted, unprovoked and disturbing."

In a Friday post on the Marion County Sheriff's Office Facebook page, a woman echoed McArthur's comments, writing: "The other day, your officer James Coleman went out of his way to harass a stranger online. I watched it unfold, it was nasty, unprovoked, and completely below the dignity and station of a public official."

The online barrage allegedly launched by Coleman included a suggestion McArthur take the antidepressant Paxil and baited her with comments like, "Just a troll fishing for liberals."

McArthur says she tried to ward off the bullies, who at the time she didn't know were law-enforcement officers, by telling them to "get f***ed." Her response only egged them on.

The other officer who targeted her, she says, is Chad Galusha, a Salem police officer. Last year, a Marion County grand jury found that Galusha and three other officers were justified in using deadly force against a suspect during a standoff.

In the letter she wrote to the Marion County Sheriff's Office and the Salem Police Department, McArthur requested an apology and demanded that the men start acting like professionals who have sworn to protect the public, pointing out that "People already have trust issues with the police."

The sheriff's office says it is looking into the complaint, but it appears the Salem police department is in no mood for niceties. The department's spokesman, Lt. Steve Birr, told KATU:

"There was nothing that [Galusha] did, according to the city attorney's office, that isn't protected First Amendment speech."

-- Douglas Perry