A New York police department has released footage of an officer’s racist remarks and the police chief has taken steps to terminate the patrolman Friday.
Albany police Officer David Haupt was caught on video on Nov. 1 calling Black people “the worst (expletive) race,” the Times-Union reported.
In the video, a deputy’s body camera appears to have been accidentally activated as the deputy was complaining that the majority of their calls involved Black residents.
“My buddies listen to the scanner and they send me texts all the time, and they go, ‘Is the suspect ever a white male?’ and I go ‘No.’ I know it sounds terrible to say, but I don’t give a (expletive) what anybody says, I sincerely don’t.” Haupt replies. “Because bro, they are the worst (expletive) race and I don’t — you can’t deny, like, over the last X amount of months, they are — you know because we work together — they are getting worse and worse, and people are defending that. Are you (expletive) kidding me?”
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The deputy replies, “Uh-huh” twice but does not comment further. The video ends before the deputy returns to the car.
The sheriff’s department discovered the video during a routine review of body camera footage and turned the video over to Albany County District Attorney’s office, who notified Police Chief Eric Hawkins Tuesday.
Hawkins said that Haupt is a four-year veteran who has completed the department’s training courses on racial diversity and workplace violence within the last month. He said that the department is reviewing Haupt’s personnel file and arrest’s to see if there are any additional incidents or potential complaints to scrutinize.
News
New York Civil Liberties Union lawyers released a report in 2019 that indicated that police in Albany County overwhelmingly arrested minorities for low-level marijuana offenses.
At the time, Hawkins vowed to investigate the cause of this disparity and insisted that the department did not target minorities.
A Times-Union review of Albany police data from July 9, 2019, to July 9, 2020, showed that 97% of the time those ticketed or arrested were Black for marijuana-related offenses.
