Some things just haven't quite worked out yet.
Posted on 05/28/2015 2:59:14 PM PDT by BBell
It’s a racially charged photo the Chicago Police Department didn’t want the public to see: two white cops posing with rifles as they stand over a black man lying on his belly with deer antlers on his head.
But a Cook County judge has refused to keep secret the shocking image of former Officers Timothy McDermott and Jerome Finnigan kneeling with what the police department says is an unidentified African-American drug suspect.
Believed to have been taken in a West Side police station between 1999 and 2003, the Polaroid photo was given to the city by the feds in 2013 and resulted in McDermott, a clout-heavy cop, being fired last year by the police board in a 5-to-4 vote. The four dissenters said McDermott should only have been suspended. But a majority of the board wrote that “appearing to treat an African-American man not as a human being but as a hunted animal is disgraceful and shocks the conscience.”
McDermott, who has been driving a truck to support his family, is now appealing his dismissal in court.
Even though police Supt. Garry McCarthy moved to fire McDermott, attorneys for the police department and McDermott both asked Judge Thomas Allen to keep the photo under seal earlier this year.
They said they wanted to protect the privacy of the unidentified African-American man. Allen denied their request in March. The Sun-Times recently obtained a copy of the photo in the court file.
Federal prosecutors gave the photo to police investigators in 2013 about two years after Finnigan — the notorious other cop in the picture — was sentenced to 12 years in prison for leading a crew of rogue cops in robberies, home invasions and other crimes.
The photo comes to light as conflicts in recent months between white police officers and black suspects
(Excerpt) Read more at chicago.suntimes.com ...
the current realities SUCK...... just like they did In Garland Texas...
Exactly. Had he been Indian or Asian, it would have caused the same sort of uproar.
Could it be three buddy's screwing around having a good time not caring about what freakin color they are?
If there are three such photos with each man taking a turn as the "deer", then I would say "sure." But since the only photo extant is that of the Black guy playing the deer, I would have to say "not bloody likely."
What if one of the posed shooters was the black guy?
Then they would have successfully immunized themselves from backlash. They didn't.
Why is it the fact that one guy is black even noticed?
Give me a break. I have had a lot of black friends, and one thing that I can say is nearly universal among them is Black sensitivity to the appearance of racism. Not all, but the vast majority of them *LOOK* for it in every situation or occurrence. To them there IS no innocuous portrayal of blacks in a subservient or less than human role, especially one in which it is obvious they were treated like a hunted animal.
They should be fired....really??
What good would they be in a Black Neighborhood if people recognized them? How would they do their jobs? They would likely cause crime, not alleviate it.
You want a job as a cop? Don't lend yourself to things which make the job harder, if not impossible. Apparently the board agreed.
Some things just haven't quite worked out yet.
Back then, people had a sense of humor.
There are many things that people could do 'back then' that you get shot or put in jail for now.
And what law did they break? Where is it said that a photograph that is clearly sarcasm is grounds for firing an employee? I think there is a lawyer and a good lawsuit to be had by the policemen that have had their rights removed without due process.
This administration has dragged the racial issues in this country back 50 years. The pic was taken in the late 90’s or early 2000’s. Not one of those 3 men could’ve known that racebaiters would complain about the pic in 2015.
Must run in different circles. I knew people who would have a screaming bitch fit about it in the 1980s.
How does one photoshop a Polaroid picture?
Your “lot of black friends” sound nearly universally irrational.
This will be huge news for weeks while the country goes to heck.
Bread and circuses.
This is very series. So hugh and series in fact I think not only should the cops be fired, but their entire supervisory chain should be fired up to, and including the mayor.
With you as their "friend", I can see why.
Your post is nothing more than reeking of "racial sensitivity" and seeing color first.
I saw the pic as three friends posing for a silly photo, perhaps a bit of brew in the mix having a great time, you see it as two white guys and a black, nuff said.
Call in the Guard series.
Huck Finn's waiter's racist action did damage to New Orleans
Honestly my give a crap meter is broken.
Your best one yet!!!!!!!!!!!
Well said.
Thanks, nice to see you, hope you are well!!
Thanks Ron! You, too!
Thanks!
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