Posted on 04/24/2009 3:25:52 PM PDT by billorites
Five Philadelphia police officers were fired yesterday for alleged misconduct, including two incidents in which officers were accused of using racial slurs.
Among them was William Thrasher, 24, who allegedly called African Americans in his 22d District "animals" and worse.
Thrasher, who had been on the force for two years, was quoted by a Temple University journalism student who was riding with him on patrol for a class assignment.
Shannon McDonald's article was posted on a Temple Web site. Philadelphia media picked up the quotes, which prompted demands for Thrasher's firing.
Officers Donald Swan and Anthony Ferriola were also dismissed on allegations that they used racial epithets on the job. The remarks allegedly were made toward students while the two responded to a fight March 13 inside Audenried High School in South Philadelphia.
The remaining two officers, John Safarowicz and Sgt. Paul Seeger, were terminated for alleged conduct in separate off-duty incidents. They also were criminally charged yesterday.
All five officers were officially suspended 30 days with intent to dismiss. The firings were announced in a news release. Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey was not immediately available for comment.
John McNesby, president of Philadelphia Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5, said the union would file grievances on behalf of the officers and then review the internal investigations that had been conducted for each of them.
As for the alleged racial slurs, McNesby said the police union did not condone such behavior but questioned whether discipline short of firing was more appropriate.
During the ride-along, Thrasher allegedly referred to the violence in his predominantly African American district as "typical n- s-" or "TNS."
Chris Harper, the associate journalism professor at Temple who edited McDonald's article, said the commissioner's action vindicated the accuracy of McDonald's work.
McDonald, a 21-year-old senior who is about to graduate, went on a three-hour ride with Thrasher on Jan. 30 for Temple's Multimedia Urban Reporting Lab, which is the final required course for a journalism major.
"A journalist did her job," Harper said. "She reported a story. That story was investigated by the Police Department."
After the article gained regional attention, Harper said, McDonald "handled the attention with poise, grace, and sincerity."
The article is still online at www.temple.edu/murl
In a Philadelphia Daily News article about the episode, Ramsey said: "I take this very, very seriously. It's not supposed to happen. You can't serve people you don't respect."
James Golden, chief safety executive for the Philadelphia School District, said: "We are grateful for [Ramsey's] swift and direct action in this case."
Golden said a large fight in Audenried's cafeteria had required a response from school and city police. During the response, students complained, and teachers and other staff allegedly heard Swan and Ferriola utter racial epithets at students.
Swan was a four-year veteran. Ferriola joined the department three years ago.
In the Seeger case, the department said he had become involved in a dispute with family members while at home Sept. 19.
When Seventh District officers responded to the disturbance, Seeger orally threatened the officers and a supervisor, the department said.
Yesterday, Seeger, who had been with the department for 14 years and was assigned to the 25th District, was charged with one count of terrorist threats and one count of disorderly conduct, both misdemeanors.
Safarowicz, while off-duty Sept. 21, identified himself as a police officer and pushed his way into a residence in the 4100 block of Merrick Street in Roxborough, where he threatened and assaulted the occupants, the department said.
Safarowicz, who had been with the force for 11 years and was assigned to the 39th District, was charged with burglary and criminal trespass, both felonies, and related offenses.
Two beers and I start to slur...
You're exactly right as to how this should have been handled.
"Praise in public, counsel in private..."
The story here is about a breakdown in management and supervision. This is why 23 y.o. cops have superiors: To serve, counsel, and sometimes protect the newbies from themselves.
We've all been there.
So many comments, so little time.
What about criminal defense lawyers?
Thrasher is not real bright. Maybe it is a good thing that he no longer zips around in his cruiser. To say something like that to a 21 yr old journalist student isn’t very smart.
Sounds like a little bravado to me and very immature. He can try being a cop again when he grows up.
A Policeman should always assume the walls have ears and keep in the habit of NOT using racist remarks. Philly cops have a job that WILL require them to get rough and some of the perps will be minority. The Race Card will be played anyway but, the Race Card will work if they have the officer on tape using a slur where it might not work without that. See Mark Fuhrman 1995 and it is worse now.
Mr. Thrasher learned a tough lesson. I hope Shannon doesn’t have to learn an even tougher one when she needs police protection in that area of town.
These crimes were reported for last week on campus for last week:
Underage Consumption
Public Drunkenness
Harassment
Open Fraud
Underage Consumption
Narcotics
Burglary
Burglary
Criminal Mischief
Retail Theft Theft
Harassment
Simple Assault
Criminal Mischief
Criminal Mischief
Burglary
Underage Consumption
Disorderly Conduct
Disorderly Conduct
Criminal Mischief
Theft
Theft
Criminal Mischief
Underage Possession
Theft
Underage Possession
Criminal Mischief
Simple Assault
Aggravated Assault
Theft
Harassment
Theft
With Temple’s enrollment increasing, the University has been moving further and further into crime-plagued neighborhoods in North Philadelphia in an effort to provide off-campus housing.
“Temple’s all over here so, they’re gonna be victimized like everybody else in the neighborhood,” said block captain Terry White. “Temple doesn’t have any security around here so they’ve got do that, if they’re going to live around here, they’ve got to have somebody around here.”
Temple Senior Curtis Dailey and his college roomate Dennis Wang learned that early on. They were robbed just after they moved in. We asked them what the thieves took.”Basically everything, like computers, TVs, video games systems,” Dailey said. Philadelphia police are helping Temple beef-up security in targeted areas, but investigators still worry.
“I’m definitely concerned that this could get worse, especially if the kids start resisting,” said Capt. Seaborough.
Temple junior Mitchell Moodie says, if targeted, he won’t resist.
“They can take it, I mean there’s not much I can do at that point, I mean they come, I’m not going to fight them,” Moodie said.
Authorities warned students to know who’s at the door before they open it.
“Look out the peephole. If you don’t recognize the person, don’t open the door. If you’re feeling leery about who’s at the door, call the police so we can get there as quickly as we can,” said Capt. Seaborough.
More victims in the college jungle........
And you can't respect people who behave like animals. Kind of a catch 22 don't you think, Chief?
Sorry, I don’t want racists serving as police officers. While I’m not glad to see anyone lose their job right now, idiots like this should know better than to spout racist slurs.
But I'm not sure if they're racists or just naive, immature fools.
23 y.o. males with an interest in law enforcement are not typically the most self-reflective of creatures.
I think that they and their ilk would be best served, and hopefully serve the public, if they had the benefit of better mentoring.
These creeps did not.
I don't make any excuse for them.
People their age are typically an ugly piece of work when it comes to entry level positions. Add a badge, gun and police power and you have a recipe for ugliness and worse.
They were poorly served by the people who were supposed to mentor, supervise and teach them.
This doesn't happen in every police department. And not because other departments have better quality recruits than Philadelphia.
This is a failure of discipline and training.
Sounds like Thrasher was set up by this student. No way someone would make those comments knowing they would be published.
I'm a lot more concerned about human predators than so called "racist" officers. There is nothing to indicate that this guy is racist other than using non-PC words. You sound like a lawyer.
Some officers have just found out that, no matter what the reporter says, she is not your friend and will not hesitate to destroy you for a story.
Yeah you would last ten minutes doing that cop’s job and if you were sent out at night you would be too chicken squat to leave the patrol car
Or perhaps the officer's boss who arranged it didn't like the officer and wanted an excuse to get rid of him?
“I’m not racist,” he says. “I work with black people everyday. They have jobs, they support their families, [and] they’re good people. Most of the people who live in this area are bad people. And they happen to be black.”
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.