Racist Cop Who Kicked in Black Woman's Door Is Still a Cop: But Why Though?

You may remember reports of New York City police officer Michael J. Reynolds landing in Nashville, Tenn. in July 2018, according to court records. Reynolds was attending a 3-day bachelor party with six other men, two of whom were also identified as NYC officers.

Reynolds was staying in an Airbnb, one door down from a black woman, Conese Halliburton, and her four sons. At around 2:30 a.m. on July 9, 2018, Reynolds is seen, via video surveillance from a neighbor’s RING camera, kicking in Halliburton’s door in an apparent drunken rage.

In an interview with The Tennessean, Halliburton recalls the events.

“This is my mother fucking house,” Reynolds shouted, Halliburton told the paper. The video shows Reynolds shouting at the family “Try to shoot me, and I’ll break every fucking bone in your fucking neck.” He also is shown in the footage calling the family “Fucking niggers.”

In December, he was sentenced to a meager 15 days in jail and three years probation after pleading no contest to four misdemeanors, court records show. And if that isn’t egregious enough, as of Monday, he still has a job.

According to The New York Times, more than 10,000 people have signed an online petition demanding Reynolds be fired from the New York Police Department. Because... duh.

“Michael Reynolds is a violent and dangerous racist who has no business carrying either a badge or a gun,” Halliburton’s lawyer, Daniel Horwitz, said via email. “Ms. Halliburton wants the N.Y.P.D. to fire him immediately so that he can’t hurt anyone else.”

The NYPD said last week that Officer Reynolds was on “modified duty” and that the disciplinary process was awaiting the Nashville case’s conclusion. Reynolds claimed in court that he was drunk and had no recollection of the events. I’m just hoping that matters are resolved ASAP and that since he won’t be thrown under the jail—like all racist, dangerous cops should be—he’s at least removed from his position of power before he can do more harm to unsuspecting black people.