An officer in Albany was caught on camera making racists remarks about Black people earlier this month.
Read More: Louisville police hid 738,000 records showing sexual abuse by officers: report
Officer David W. Haupt, who is white, was sitting in a patrol car with another officer when he can be heard saying Black people are the worst race on November 1. The police chief announced plans to fire the officer on Friday but unfortunately, it is not an easy feat, according to Times Union.
“My buddies listen to the scanner and they send me texts all the time, and they go, ‘Is the suspect ever a white male?’ and I go ‘No.’ I know it sounds terrible to say, but I don’t give a f__ what anybody says, I sincerely don’t. Because bro, they are the worst f__ing race and I don’t — you can’t deny, like, over the last X amount of months, they are — you know because we work together — they are getting worse and worse, and people are defending that. Are you f__ing kidding me?” Haupt said on the body cam footage.
The deputy in the car with him is heard replying, “Uh-huh.”
Read More: Louisville police hid 738,000 records showing sexual abuse by officers: report
Police Chief Eric Hawkins, who is Black, plans to terminate the patrolman who has been on the force for four years. But if Haupt argues the decision, the matter could go into binding arbitration.
“It could be a process as short as a month or so or it could go into several months,” said Hawkins. The police chief says there is no room on the police force for Haupt’s mindset.
“When we see it in police departments, law enforcement leaders have an obligation to stand up, call it what it is and take the appropriate action. And that’s what I did,” said Hawkins.
It appears Hawkins is more than all talk. In January, he fired three officers who were involved in an incident in March of 2019 which was caught on camera of eight officers kicking and beating three men.
Watch the footage of Haupt’s comments below.
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