20 Times A Police Officer's Racism Was Put on Blast

Sgt. Dana Martillo was caught donning a Trump 2020 badge reading, “Make Enforcement Great Again” while on duty at a Black Lives Matter protest in February 2021, per NY Daily News. 

Martillo did ask for permission from a superior and told a colleague during the protest she had to “brush up on her First Amendment rights.” She was given a 10-day suspension and was forced to forfeit 30 vacation days following an internal investigation.

Former Bay Area Rapid Transit police officer Nathan Washam left the department after he was placed under investigation for a video of him using racist language during a gaming livestream, per The San Francisco Chronicle.

However, when he applied to San Ramon’s police department for a new job, his application was rejected after the department found was he was previously accused of.

Nearly half of the entire Antioch Police Department was pulled under investigation after the exposure of a slew of racist texts between the officers, according to a scathing investigative report from the Los Angeles Times.

Among the messages were racist slurs and various insults toward Black people, jokes about the beating or violent arrest of Black people and even a threat to shoot the Black mayor, Lamar Thorpe, with a nonlethal projectile. Oh, it was UGLY. This case got so bad, they had to reevaluate the pending cases handled by the officers accused in the case they were tainted by racial bias.

Hingham police officer Joel Salituri followed a Black man from the interstate, onto the exit ramp and to a nearby parking while yelling racial slurs and even flashing his firearm. According to NBC Boston, he was off duty at the time but boasted that he was a cop. He was charged with assault with a dangerous weapon and faces hate crime enhancements.

Marion police officer Chaz Foy was employed for 48 hours before getting kicked out from the department after his racist social media posts were exposed, according to IndyStar.

There were many but one of them was a Facebook post reading, “With gas hitting 4.89 and climbing, let’s all take a moment to appreciate better times.” He was referring the picture attached, of George Floyd under the knee of former Minneapolis cop Derek Chauvin.

Dallas Officer Caleb McCollum customized a challenge coin to honor the 15th anniversary of the South Central Patrol Division but with a stereotypical twist. According to Fox 4 News, the coin depicted a drug house with the Pillsbury Doughboy behind it wearing gold teeth, holding money in one hand and a firearm in the other. The letters above the figure read “Big ‘T’ Plaza,” which is a shopping center frequented by Black customers.

McCollum’s coin disturbed city residents and resulted in administrative leave and a 5-day suspension.

An investigation from the Los Angeles Times found a series of text messages among Torrance police officers, mocking the shooting death of a Black man. Officers shot Christopher Mitchell within 15 seconds of approaching him, as he surrendered with his hands in the air.

“Was going to tell you all those [N-word] family members are all pissed off in front of the station,” said one officer.

“Gun cleaning party at my house when they release my name??” another officer was found saying.

At least a dozen officers were connected to racist and homophobic text messages including the sharing of racist memes. The lawsuits against the officers costed up to $10 million.

Just when a report from the Civilian Office of Police Accountability was ready to expose him for filth, Lt. John Cannon handed in his resignation.

Per the Chicago Tribune, Cannon had a racist spam account on Facebook under the alias “Samuel Hipster.” He told investigators it was meant to be a joke but his posts were far from humorous.

One post was a meme of former president Barack Obama wearing a turban with the caption “Obama is ISIS.” Another post read “White privilege is a myth perpetuated by those who hate white people.”

He was bound to be fired anyway as COPA found him unfit to serve in the department.

Sgt. Douglas Howell is under internal investigation by the Sheriff’s office for being caught tweeting a slew of racially insensitive comments, per First Coast News.

He came for every group of color but in one 2013 tweet, he said Black people were one of America’s biggest problems. With his Twitter fingers he violated department policy by engaging in speech expressing racial bias. It’s not confirmed if the tweets are Howell’s but if they are, somebody’s gettin’ fired (Beyoncé voice).

A pending investigation is looking into a crazy-racist Instagram supposedly owned by a group of corrections officers at Victorville Federal Correctional Complex, per East Bay Times.

The account, “goodverbal,” had allegedly made racist, homophobic, xenophobic... everything-phobic posts about fellow guards and inmates. Some posts even joked about sexually assaulting women inmates.

The Bureau of Prisons said they can’t confirm who runs the account but when they do, criminal prosecution is on the table.

Springfield Police Department Officer Aaron Paul Nichols was exposed for a variety of white supremacist posts on social media, found the Huffington Post.

Nichols made jokes about killing Black and Jewish people among other obscenities like saying Hitler “did nothing wrong.” Oh, and this quote:

“N–gers ruin everything. Even if it’s White doing the stealing they’re likely selling the meat to blaq [sic] run restaurants or trading it to n—gers for dope. Real talk.”

Anonymous Comrades Collective, a group that tracks down neo-Nazis and such, reported the posts leading to an internal investigation. He ended up resigning instead of talking to investigators.

Capt. Keith Niemann was suspended for three days without pay after his racist WhatsApp messages were exposed, per The Wichita Eagle.

Niemann sent a photo of himself in an ugly Christmas sweater with a cartoon version of the Wardy “Woody” Joubert meme with a Christmas present covering Joubert’s crotch. “I have a big package for you,” read the sweater. He also held a mug with Joubert’s picture and a “vulgar saying.”

Another supervisor was disciplined for sending a photoshopped picture from “A Christmas Story” with Flick sticking his tongue to a Black male body part instead of a pole.

Racist and sexist messages between SWAT members all the way back to 2015 were found in an internal department investigation, according to AP News. One text mocked George Floyd’s death and joked about the use of excessive force.

Per the city’s report, the officers were not disciplined as they should have been and the internal investigation was mishandled. All officers are now required to attend training sessions on racial discrimination and civil rights violations.

Mark Miles of the Maryland-National Capital Park Police filed a lawsuit against his fellow colleagues after receiving a number of racist and abusive messages, per The Daily Record.

The officers joked in a group chat about starting a race war. Sgt. Stephanie Harvey was accused of proclaiming herself as a mysogynistic racist and suggesting to kill Black Lives Matter protestors.

Miles also said when he tried to speak up about the issue, he was retaliated against by his colleagues. In his complaint, he called for Harvey to be fired.

Sullivan’s Island Police Chief Chris Griffin is being sued by two women who allege he sent unsolicited racist and sexist images, per The State. The women say they received around 20 messages that were “sexually explicit, racist and demeaning.”

They reported the texts to the executive director of the SC Police Chiefs Association and an investigation launched into the incident. Griffin’s membership to the association was revoked.

Fanita Bility, 8, was shot and killed by Pennsylvania police after her family vehicle was falsely identified in a drive-by. The Briarcliffe Volunteer Fire Company was put on a 30-day suspension when their members were found making racist comments mocking Bility, per NBC News.

Their comments were recorded in a virtual meeting that allegedly went on for two hours.

Nine Oakland cops were disciplined for sharing sexist and racist posts on social media, per the LA Times. Seven of the cops were suspended for 25 days. The other two had already gone to other agencies.

Their Instagram account, “crimereductionteam,” featured memes joking about police brutality, rape and other inappropriate content. Third-party investigators confiscated the work phones of 140 officers.

The district court judge hasn’t decided how to handle the Instagram scandal yet.

A Warren, Michigan police officer is under investigation for making extra racist Facebook comments, per WDIV 4 Detroit. The officer allegedly said Black people are the “biggest racist people in the world” and proceeded to slam our community with every stereotype possible.

The standout post was: “Glad I wasn’t born [Black]. I would kill myself.”

The department claimed an internal investigation is underway. It’s unclear if the cop, whose name was not made public, was suspended.

Per AP News, a group of Pennsylvania officers tried to be sneaky and formed a private Facebook group to talk all they trash they want.

From anti-BLM posts, slamming cops who kneeled with protesters to Blue Lives Matter polluted the page. Originally, the group talked about all the boring cop stuff. Then, it got nasty. Many of the members were from Allegheny County.

It’s unclear if the cops faced any discipline for their nonsense.

Four Aurora Police Department officers were fired for taking a selfie at the site where Elijah McClain died, per NPR. The officers mocked the carotid restraint Elijah was placed in, partly resulting in his death, in the photo.

The photo was shared to one of the officers charged in McClain’s death, Jason Rosenblatt, to “cheer him up.”

Rosenblatt was already fired after the incident. Two officers in the picture were also fired and the third resigned.