A police officer in New York state has been suspended without pay after a body camera recorded him calling Black people “the worst race,” adding an expletive for emphasis.
David Haupt was suspended from Albany police for 30 days on Wednesday, the Albany Times Union reported. Haupt has been on the force since 2016.
The Times Union obtained a transcript of the Nov. 1 conversation between Haupt and a county sheriff’s deputy that occurred while the two were at a gas station. In the transcript, Haupt, referring to what he says is a disproportionate number of police calls involving Black people, says, “they are getting worse and worse, and people are defending that.”
The sheriff’s department discovered the video during a routine review.
Albany Police Chief Eric Hawkins, who is Black, called the comments among the most “shocking and appalling” he had heard in 30 years in law enforcement. Hawkins said the comments don’t “reflect the values of the men and women in this department.”
Mayor Kathy Sheehan told the newspaper she watched the video Thursday, and called the remarks “blatantly racist.”
A spokesperson for the district attorney’s office said the office would review all past cases involving Haupt and would notify defense attorneys.
The president of Council 82, a union that represents city patrolmen, told the newspaper Haupt is not a member. Mike Delano, head of the independent Albany Police Benevolent Association union seeking to replace Council 82, said he was aware of the suspension but not the circumstances surrounding it.
