A Maryland police officer is under investigation after she was caught on video calling a group of four Black men "n*ggers" during a stop-and-frisk.
The Montgomery County Police Department was forced to release body camera footage of the incident after video of the officer using the racial slur made it on to social media.
In the video, the officer approaches a group of four Black men who are surrounded by police and are being searched at a McDonald’s in Silver Spring on Thursday morning. During the 12-minute video, the officer searches through their bags and asks them questions.
When another man complains about how long the police are taking, the officer yells back at him, "Y'all n*ggers were trying to do something." When one of the men being arrested says that was racist, the officer laughs at him.
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"There are no circumstances that justify what the officer said. Every time something like this happens it hurts the reputation of all officers; and it works against efforts to build trust in the community,” said Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich in a statement.
Elrich said he spoke to acting Police Chief Russ Hamill about the matter and got promises that an investigation would be started.
“Such language, whether one is mimicking another person’s language, or using it on their own, simply has no place here,” Hamill said in an internal police department email obtained by The Baltimore Sun.
The Montgomery County police claimed they are investigating the incident and released a statement saying, “We sincerely regret the disturbing nature of this video.”
Police claim the men were being investigated for "trespassing" at the McDonald’s but they could not confirm whether those involved were adults or juveniles and what charges had been filed against them.
“I think there’s a larger issue. . .who and why and how we’re stopping and detaining individuals,” Council member Will Jawando said in an interview with The Baltimore Sun.
“When you do that, it can lead to disproportionate arrests and use of force, which is not a good thing. It doesn’t build trust in the community.”
Government and police officials did not have concrete answers on what punishment would be levied against the officer, who has not even been named. They told The Sun that disciplinary action would only take place if necessary and would probably only involve "racial sensitivity training."
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