Sgt. Chad Walker Columbia Police Officer from South Carolina suspended without pay for using racial slur following confrontation outside bar. Maintains he had the right to use n word cause others used it against him.
A white South Carolina police officer caught on video using racial slurs has insisted he was allowed to use the N-word following a confrontation outside a bar in which the pejorative slang was allegedly first used against him.
The incident which was captured on cell phone video and soon went viral led to the Columbia Police Department suspending Sgt. Chad Walker without pay.
Footage posted to Twitter of the incident at the Five Points section of Columbia, Saturday night, shows Sgt. Chad Walker using the racial slur at least two times after the cop told astonished onlookers that he had used the racial slang only after it had been directed at him. An accusation that incredulous bar attendees adamantly refuted.
Video starts with a man outside Bar None — where Walker spotted several people violating Gov. Henry McMaster’s executive order to stop the service and consumption of alcohol after 11 p.m. to stem the coronavirus — accusing the officer of ‘talking to these people of color as if they’re less than human.’
‘The people of color?’ Walker replies. ‘The gentleman right there that called me a n—-r? That guy, that just called me a n—-r?’ ‘Are you serious?’ another man is overheard saying.
This just happened in Columbia, SC. @ColumbiaPDSC what are you going to do about this!? pic.twitter.com/OyIg5GwgmO
— William Steele (@SteeleWT_IV) August 30, 2020
‘All you’re doing is calling me ignorant. That’s what that word means.’
The black man Walker had accused then claims he did not use the slur, while the sergeant insists he did, saying it was caught on his police bodycam. Video shows several others, including other officers watching the exchange.
‘Yes sir, you did,’ Walker tells the man. ‘You got mad because I told you you couldn’t drink your drink, so you called me that word.’
A woman then nudges the man away from Walker — a 14-year department vet — after he asks the sergeant to repeat the slur again, video shows.
‘Why?’ the officer continues. ‘All you’re doing is calling me ignorant. That’s what that word means. If you’d like to call yourself ignorant, keep saying it.’
In another clip, Walker can be heard yelling that the man called him the N-word.
‘Who cares what color I am?!’ Walker said, the clip shows. ‘He called me that word, nobody was called that.’
Columbia police in a tweet on Sunday described Walker’s behavior as ‘inexcusable and completely inconsistent’ with its values while promising an investigation.
Who exactly is serving the public?
‘We are better than his actions,’ department officials said.
Columbia Police Chief W.H. ‘Skip’ Holbrook announced later Sunday that Walker had been suspended without pay. Holbrook also apologized for the sergeant’s ‘inappropriate [and] disrespectful’ actions.
‘After reviewing the video from last night in Five Points, it is evident the actions of Sgt. Walker were a clear failure to fulfill the expectations and standards of our department,’ Holbrook said in a statement. ‘The repetition of the racial slur and failure to deescalate the situation were inexcusable.’
While condemning Sgt. Walker Holbrook said he was pleased that another officer intervened and removed him from the scene.
‘The Columbia Police Department will continue to work to earn the trust of the community that it serves,’ police said in a statement. ‘The actions exhibited [Saturday] are not a true representation of the courageous CPD men and women who proudly wear the police uniform. We will be accountable to the public we serve.’
Adding, ‘the police department sincerely apologizes for the inappropriate, disrespectful words, behavior and actions of Sgt. Walker.’
