A New York police officer has been placed on paid administrative leave after a transphobic rap video circulated the internet.
The video displayed a man who identified himself as New Paltz Officer Robert Sisco expressing transphobic views and encouraging violence against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the Poughkeepsie Journal reported.
The man was wearing a police uniform with the name tag that read “R. Sisco” declared that there are only two genders and that Clinton should be hanged for treason.
Later in the song, Sisco said, “just because I’m a cop it doesn’t mean that I’m bad.”
Police Chief Rob Lucchesi said there is no timeline for the investigation.
The video surfaced as police across the nation face scrutiny for their handling of protests against police brutality and social injustice. Protesters gathered Sunday at the Brooklyn Museum to honor two transgender women, Riah Milton and Dominique “Rem’mie” Fells, who were found dead last week. Milton was shot and killed in Ohio, and Fells was found on the banks of a Pennsylvania river.
There were also hundreds who gathered outside Barclays Center in Brooklyn on Wednesday for a Black Trans Lives Matter march, one of the organizers of which is just 16 years old.
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According to the Human Rights Campaign, so far this year at least 15 transgender or gender non-conforming people have been killed by violent means, most of whom are transgender women of color.
