SC Black Caucus: Highway Patrol “Looking For A Scapegoat”
“PATTERN OF VINDICTIVENESS” PREVENTED BLACK CAPTAIN FROM OBJECTING TO PUNISHMENT
FITSNews – March 10, 2008 – The Chairman of the S.C. Legislative Black Caucus today disputed claims that a black Captain set the controversial punishment which ultimately cost South Carolina’s top two public safety officials their jobs last month. South Carolina Public Safety Director Jim Schweitzer and Highway Patrol Colonel Russell Roark both resigned from their positions ten days ago after it was revealed that a white officer who used a racial slur and threatened to kill a black suspect during a 2004 traffic stop was suspended, not fired from his position.
Multiple sources have told FITSNews that the decision to suspend the white officer was actually made by a black Highway Patrol Captain, June Jones, a claim S.C. Black Caucus Chairman Leon Howard flatly disputes.
“They’re looking for a scapegoat,” Howard told FITSNews, adding that he believes a “pattern of vindictiveness” exists at the Highway Patrol against officers who challenge decisions made by their superiors. Last week, Howard also accused the Highway Patrol of racial profiling, and has previously referred to State Troopers as employing “cowboy, unprofessional” methods in dealing with black suspects.
Howard says two black troopers have been “taken off of worthwhile assignments and sent to patrol rest stops” after disagreeing with their superior officers.
A spokesman for the S.C. Department of Public Safety, which oversees the Highway Patrol, declined to respond to Howard’s accusations.
Developing …
Comments
By mike83 on March 15th, 2008 at 1:54 pm
The “Black caucus chairman” ought to put a uniform on and go on the job with the HP for six months. Then he can see the scum and disrespect that law enforcement officers have to deal with. The black caucus chairman should be making more effort to deal with the lack of personal responsibility and dcaying moral values in the black community that leads to a higher criminal rate. In order to profile criminal activity, you have to look at who is most likely to be a criminal. Auto insurance companies profile customers on who is most likely to cause an accident. Nothing wrong with profiling.