|
|
A still from the officer's
racist video shows a police dog attacking a black man (left) and
fake image of U.S. President Obama with gold teeth
In one case, an officer planted two bags of crack cocaine on a black woman he referred to as "a crackhead ni*ger!" As a result of the revelations, the case has been overturned. Now Ft. Lauderdale prosecutors have to revisit over 50 criminal cases bearing convictions the officers were apart of, due to racist conduct, evidence planting and falsified police reports.
STORY SOURCE
Cops' Racist Video Just
Beginning of One South Florida Department's Problems
Wednesday, April 8, 2015 | 18 hours ago - The word shot out on the police wire: Be on the lookout for a Ford Focus, black female at the wheel. The driver is waving a handgun at other cars. In total, 74 incidents came under IA review. Fifty-six of those included use of force, and more than 40 involved black suspects...
Carla Flower didn't even have a chance to get out of the parking lot. The 28-year-old black woman with glowing amber eyes was at the agency to swap out a car with underinflated tires. But before she could drive off, two Fort Lauderdale Police officers ordered her and two friends out of the replacement vehicle.
The cops never found a handgun. But according to a police report, they did turn up "two small white rocks" that would later test positive for crack cocaine. It seemed just another coke bust. But it wasn't. Charges would later be dropped after Flower claimed the drugs had been planted and the officers had showered her with racial slurs. "You're a crackhead ni*ger," one of the cops had yelled. "You're a crackhead whore." In the squad car, Flower says, the abusive talk continued. "Shut the f**k up now, ni*ger."
"They were just calling me names that you would never expect," Flower says today. "I felt like I was an animal to them." It turns out, the racist outburst was no outlier. The officers who stopped Flower — James Wells and Christopher Sousa — recently lost their jobs, along with two other Fort Lauderdale officers, thanks to racist text messages and videos.
Three weeks ago, Fort Lauderdale Police Chief Frank Adderley and Mayor Jack Seiler announced the firings of Wells, Sousa, and Officer James Holding. Officer Alex Alvarez had quit after the racist messages were discovered.
Local media have focused recently on the firings as bad actors caught red-handed. But the scandal currently engulfing the Fort Lauderdale PD spreads far beyond off-color jokes and racist videos. New Times has found that the officers have a long history of use of force. Moreover, officers who knew about their colleagues' untoward behavior have so far skated...
RELATED ARTICLES
