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A police officer in Richmond, Va., has been ordered to enlist in remedial training after he was captured on video being belligerent toward a group of Black middle school students.
According to The Washington Post, earlier this month, the Richmond Police Department chose to launch an internal investigation after video of the officer confronted a group of young girls during the March 28 incident outside Albert Middle School.
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In the clip filmed by student Cameron Hilliard, 13, the officer who had reportedly heard someone curse the police. After an exchange in which one of the teens was defiant to the officer, he responded by saying, “wait until your asses turn 18, then you’re mine!”
The parents of one of the teens in the group uploaded the video to social media where it has been viewed almost 50,000 times, The Post reported.
While Richmond Police has yet to release the name of the officer, interim police Chief William C. Smith released a statement apologizing to the community, as well as to the students involved and their families.
“First, I apologize to the citizens of Richmond, to the families and to the children involved,” Smith said during a news conference. “His actions do not reflect the values, training, or policies of the Department.”
Smith also said the veteran officer involved has served in various precincts across the city and does not have a “significant discipline history.”
“The officer was open and honest during his interview and expressed regret for his actions,” he continued. “He voluntarily requested to be given the opportunity to speak to and apologize to the parents. While these facts don’t minimize the incident, they do give you to totality of the person.”
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Keisha Curry, mother of the young woman who captured the incident, said she found the chief’s response lackluster and is deeply disappointed by the department’s decision not to release the cop’s name.
“Not letting the public know who the officer is doesn’t allow any other individuals the opportunity to speak out if they were mistreated by him before,” Curry told NBC News. “Everyone knows we didn’t want him fired based on this encounter, but how can this behavior be fully investigated by only doing an internal investigation, when the verbal threat was done in the community?”
