North Carolina cops fired over racist chats about ‘slaughtering’ Black people
Wilmington Police Department in North Carolina has fired three veteran police officers who made racist comments and discussed “slaughtering” and wiping Black people off the map in conversations recorded on an in-car camera.
Newly-appointed Wilmington Police Chief Donny Williams announced the dismissals of Cpl. Jesse Moore and officers James Gilmore and Kevin Piner during a news conference Wednesday.
Their conversations featured racist slurs, criticism of Black officers and the Black Lives Matter movement and talk of a Civil War. The comments came to light following a supervisor’s routine inspection of camera footage.
The officers’ exchanges were “brutally offensive” and their termination “extremely necessary,” Williams said Wednesday.
Chief Williams releases statement about the termination of three veteran Wilmington Police Officers and his plan for racial reconciliation. (see attached statement) pic.twitter.com/mYmPoWPuxL
— Wilmington Police (@WilmingtonPD) June 24, 2020
“There are certain behaviors that one must have in order to be a police officer and these three officers have demonstrated that they do not possess it,” said the police chief, adding he was “shocked, saddened and disgusted.”
“Please don’t judge our officers based on the conduct of a few,” he urged.
Williams also explained the department’s unusual step of releasing a summary of the investigation. “Because it is the right thing to do,” he said, calling it an exceptional case that was “essential to maintain public confidence in the administration of the City and the Police Department.”
This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
