A Boston police officer who made a racist movie trailer parody will be suspended without pay for six months.
In addition to his suspension, Officer Joseph DeAngelo Jr. is also required to participate in sensitivity and unconscious bias training, meet with community leaders and do community service.
via NYDN:
DeAngelo, a four-year veteran of the force, admitted to creating the questionable video featuring another officer and the insensitive tagline: “This summer black people have met their match.”
The second officer involved in the clip, which was filmed on a cellphone in the style of an advertisement for a summer blockbuster, was not aware his image was used.
In his letter, DeAngelo explained he was only trying to “poke fun of a longtime friend and co-worker” and apologized for the video, calling it “thoughtless, childish, insensitive and offensive.”
“In both my personal and professional life, I have always acted in this manner and have always sought to treat people of all races and religions professionally and respectfully,” the note reads. “I have done this with the residents of the Roxbury community who have called the police seeking police services, as well as with those who have broken the law and are the reason for the police calls.”
He continued on to apologize for the embarrassment he caused the police department and any additional challenges officers may face because of his crude video.
Another officer on June 8 alerted his supervisors to the clip. DeAngelo was suspended while an internal affairs investigation was conducted.
At the time, Mayor Marty Walsh told Boston 25 there would be punishment for the person behind the parody trailer.
“We have no place for this in our Boston Police Department and if these videos are accurate, we have to take some swift action,” Walsh said. “We have a person who’s a sworn officer who took an oath to protect the City of Boston and the people of our city. That means when they’re off duty as well.”
Evans told CBS Boston that the department worked with members of the black community to come up with a fair punishment for DeAngelo, who owned up to making the clip.
Superintendent in Chief William Gross defended the officer, saying it was clear he learned from the incident.
“Not once did I ever hear from him, ‘I’ll do anything to save my job,” he told the news station. “But, what we heard from him is, ‘I want to show everybody I’m not a racist.’”
This man shouldn’t even have a job. It’s clear he’s unfit to protect and serve.
@bostonpolice officer Joseph DeAngelo Jr. wrote a letter of apology after making a "racially insensitive" video. #Boston pic.twitter.com/cQXkCMYZRM
— Jan Ransom (@Jan_Ransom) June 29, 2017
