Revelers dance by police officers during the West Indian-American Day Parade September 5, 2011 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. More than 2 million spectators were expected to attend the celebration of Caribbean culture.(Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
The NYPD has disciplined 17 employees over racist and offensive remarks on a Facebook page about revelers at last year’s West Indian American Day Parade.
The comments referred to “savages” and “animals.” One person wrote, “Let them kill each other.”
The raucous annual parade is a heavily policed event. It’s one of the city’s largest outdoors events and has been marred by violence in some years.
Three shootings were tied to the parade in 2011, and police seized 14 guns during the celebration the night before the parade.
Police spokesman Paul Browne tells The New York Times (http://nyti.ms/RFsaPj ) that among the 17 employees were four police officers who still face departmental trials on charges of “conduct prejudicial to the good order of the police department.”
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Information from: The New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.
