California officers call US minorities ‘barbarians’
The exposure of emails exchanged among Los Angeles and San Francisco police has caused controversy over their branding of US minorities as “barbarians” and “wild animals.”
The racist police communications were released by Public Defender Jeff Adachi. Some text messages of former officer Jason Lai contained slurs Muslims and African Americans among others.
In total, three officers in San Francisco have already left the police department after the messages were discovered and a fourth is facing disciplinary measures.
Some texts refer to African Americans as barbarians and "wild animals on the loose."
"It is chilling how casually former officer Lai dehumanizes the citizens he was sworn to serve," Adachi said in a statement. "He wished violence upon the very people he was being paid to protect and none of his colleagues turned him in."
The San Francisco District Attorney's Office has charged Lai with six misdemeanor counts of unlawful access and use of criminal and Department of Motor Vehicle information.
The police department said on Tuesday Lai was one of several officers caught up in the texting scandal, which was revealed last month by the District Attorney's Office, according to Reuters.
Last year, 14 officers were caught up in a similar texting scandal, prompting the review of thousands of cases as prosecutors sought to make sure evidence would not be tainted by the scandal.
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