An assistant fire chief in Indiana has been demoted after reportedly tying a rope in the shape of a noose in front of a black firefighters whose family had experienced a lynching.

Firefighter Rick Backs from the town of Marion accepted the demotion after meeting with the fire chief and discussing the incident, which involved a noose that was left in a fire station kitchen Feb. 13, according to an Associated Press report.

Although Mikel Neal, a black firefighter, said that Backs threw the noose at him, other firefighters said Backs actually laid it on the table. Backs’ lack of disciplinary history and claim that it wasn’t racially motivated allowed him to keep his job, according to City Attorney Tom Hicks as quoted in the report.

Backs said in a statement that tying the knot was “poor judgment.”

Meanwhile, the decision not to fire Backs was met with anger in the black community, with an attorney representing Neal calling for Backs to be dismissed. Attorney Walter Madison said that the incident was “not a joke,” and if Backs didn’t understand not to do such a thing, “I hardly find a place for him in public service,” according to the report.

Neal’s wife, Rachelle Fears-Neal, is cousin to Abram Smith, one of two black men who were lynched in 1930 after being accused of killing a white man and raping his girlfriend.

The fire chief apologized for the department and said that everyone would undergo sensitivity and diversity training.

It wasn’t the only news involving a noose on Wednesday. A noose was discovered hanging from a tree on the campus of Duke University in North Carolina as well, prompting a school-wide condemnation of the incident and protests by students.