Not this time, you're not!How stupid does a cop--in Boston of all places--have be to send a mass email calling Prof. Gates a "jungle monkey"?
While he's getting fired for the racial slurs, he might as well be fired for being such a monumental dunce. Someone with such lack of common sense, shouldn't be in a law enforcement position, if you ask me.
Police officer Justin Barrett has been put on administrative leave after using racist slurs to describe Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., who has been at the center of a controversial and highly publicized arrest in which even President Obama has gotten involved.
The 36-year-old cop was stripped of his gun and badge on Tuesday afternoon when Boston Police Commissioner Edward David learned that Barrett was the author the email.
Barrett, who has been at his Boston police job for two years, is also a member of the National Guard, and the e-mail reportedly was sent anonymously to his fellow guard members and to the Boston Globe.
The leave is pending the outcome of a termination hearing, said Boston Police Department spokeswoman Elaine Driscoll. “There is no room on the department for someone who uses those words,” she said, declining to provide the specific text of the letter.
Boston Mayor Tom Menino described Barrett as a "cancer in the department" and said he should be fired immediately.
Barrett has no prior disciplinary history. An investigation on the matter is underway.
Gates, a 58-year-old preeminent African-American scholar, was arrested at his Cambridge home July 16 by a white Cambridge cop, triggering a national debate on race that reached all the way to the White House.
Gates and his arresting officer, Sgt. James Crowley, 42, are scheduled to "have a beer" at the White House with Obama tomorrow night to discuss the incident. The President became involved in the controversy when he said that “Cambridge police acted stupidly” when arresting Gates.
Sources: BNO, Boston Herald
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