A British police officer is now being investigated after being captured on video joking about shooting a Black man.
West Midlands Police removed the officer from duty after they received a complaint about a Facebook video that showed the officer’s racial remarks.
“You would be the first one I’d shoot if I had a gun, definitely,” the officer can be heard to say in the video.
According to a news release, the comments were made while police were searching a residence in Coventry.
At the beginning of the video, the officer can be heard asking the man why he did not open the door for the search, to which the man responds, “Because I was f‑‑‑ing half-asleep. … I didn’t know who you was.… You were climbing up the window like thieves.”
When one of the officers says that they are police, the man says, “That’s even worse,” and adds that he has seen “all kinds of videos.”
“You’re going to go Black Lives Matter on us, are you?” the officer says.
“Yeah!” the man responds. Both he and the officers laugh.
That was when the officer makes the joke about shooting the man.
“Oh, f‑‑‑ing hell,” the man replies as a woman can be heard laughing in the background.
Assistant Chief Constable Alex Murray said on Wednesday that the officer has since apologized for his comments, which Murray said were “not right.”
“We expect the highest standards of behavior from all our officers and staff, and we will always take complaints from members of the public seriously,” Murray said in a statement.
