Seattle Officer Fired After Investigation Into Racist Remarks

SEATTLE — A Seattle police officer was fired last year after an investigation into racist remarks reported by three of his colleagues. According to a closed case summary published this week, the Office of Police Accountability opened a probe after the officers contacted investigators about an encounter on March 31, 2020.

The reporting officers told the OPA that all four officers had responded to a trespassing call at a local hospital a few nights before, where they had made contact with a Black man and removed him from the property.

According to the report, the same group of officers was waiting to pick up food on March 31, when one asked the others, "Do you remember Kunta Kinte, the guy from Northwest Hospital from a couple days ago?" — a reference to the protagonist of "Roots," a novel and TV series that chronicles the history of slavery in the United States. The OPA said all three witness officers recalled hearing the statement, and one said the officer used the phrase "that Kunta Kinte [expletive]."

One officer told investigators they immediately told him the remark was racist, which the officer denied. The OPA said the officers did not immediately report the encounter but decided to do so after discussing it further and determining it was required by department policy.

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In an interview with the officer in question, the OPA said he admitted to making the remarks and did so "because the individual was African, and he could not remember the individual's name." Despite having seen "Roots," the officer claimed he did not realize referring to the man that way was racist until after speaking with his captain and doing more research, concluding that "it could be construed as racist towards people of African descent."

The OPA said the officer also admitted to using profanity and agreed that his behavior violated biased-free policing and professionalism policies. Ultimately, OPA Director Andrew Myerberg sustained both allegations against the officer, and interim Seattle Police Chief Adrian Diaz fired him.

In his findings, Myerberg wrote:

"In OPA's perspective, the evidence is abundantly clear that [the officer]'s statement constituted biased policing. The use of 'Kunta Kinte' to refer to any Black person, let alone an individual of African descent, is racist and is in direct contravention of policy. While [the officer] admits he engaged in biased policing, he stated he was not aware that the term was racist at the time he used it. OPA simply does not find this to be credible."

The OPA does not identify officers in its reports, and he has not been named by the Seattle Police Department.

Read the full report below: