Hamilton, Ga. removed their police chief and an officer from duty last week after their racist comments ahead of a ‘Black Lives Matter’ protest in June was caught on body cam, according to the New York Times.
The two men were seen outside the department having a discussion in a six minute video with Officer John Brooks using a racial slur to refer to Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and former Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams.
“They furnished them a house to live in, they furnished them clothes to put on their back, they furnished them food to put on their table, and all they had to do was work,” Chief Gene Allmond said. “And now we give ’em all those things and don’t have to f*cking work.”
Allmond, resigned on Monday and patrolman John Brooks was fired on Tuesday.
Hamilton’s Mayor Julie Brown told WBRL the officers were removed “because we don’t want that kind of ugliness here in Hamilton.”
“Race, I don’t think has been an issue here. At least it hasn’t been in the 37 years I’ve been here, and we just didn’t want that, especially now in this day and age we want more unity. The whole country needs more unity, we need to heal, so we didn’t want anything stopping that,” she added.
A city worker found the body camera footage last Monday while investigating why police said the body cameras weren’t working and discovering their storage was full. The employee notified Mayor Brown’s assistant Buddy Walker, who notified the mayor and City Council members.
