The Montgomery County, Maryland Department of Police is apologizing and has launched investigation after viral video showed one of their officers using the n-word toward a group of young Black men during an encounter.
According to the New York Daily News, the department released body camera footage from the officer involved, as well as an Instagram video recorded by one of the young men.
The video shows several officers questioning the four men outside a McDonald’s in Silver Spring about a trespassing complaint, when one of the cops, a white woman who has not been formally identified, casually uses the slur.
“Hey, you want to get out of here fast, right?” the cop says. “So if you have more people, ya’ll n–gers been trying to do something…”
“Racist a– b-tch,” one of the men could be heard saying in response.
“Uh, nope! That’s a quote,” the officer responded with a grin on her face.
“I bet you if she didn’t have that badge on she wouldn’t call us no n–gers,” the man continued.
“The matter brought to our attention today is disturbing and contrary to our department’s values and our overarching mission to fairly and impartially serve our community,” police said in a statement. “The statements observed on the social media video clip are contrary to our extensive training curriculum that include implicit bias training and other training programs to ensure fair, unbiased, and non-discriminatory policing in our community.”
“The Montgomery County Department of Police takes all allegations of racial discrimination seriously. We are committed to serving all members of the community in a fair, impartial, and non-discriminatory manner at all times,” the department said in a statement. “All allegations of misconduct surrounding inappropriate actions or language by our employees are investigated by our Internal Affairs Division, at times in concert with other governmental agencies within Montgomery County.”
The man who recorded the video told Fox5 that he was at a gas station waiting to be picked up for work with two of his brothers and a coworker when police were called to the scene after an employee complained about them loitering.
The man said that they were harassed by officers and put in handcuffs during the encounter.
“We sincerely regret the disturbing nature of this video. We understand the pain such language causes the entire community. Our commitment to having open and honest communication with the community and providing transparent police service persists,” the statement continued. “As part of our commitment to accountability and transparency, we are releasing both the social media video and the body worn camera footage of the involved officer for all to view.”