California cops under scrutiny after racist text messages and emails discovered
Former officer Jason Lai Lai compared black people to “barbarians” and a “pack of wild animals on the loose”.
Police in Los Angeles and San Francisco have come under fire after authorities uncovered racist and homophobic text messages and emails in which minorities were referred to as “barbarians” and “wild animals.”
Three officers in San Francisco have already left the police department after the messages were discovered and a fourth is facing disciplinary measures, officials said.
On Tuesday, authorities released details of text messages exchanged between the three former officers in which they used the N-word to refer to black people, and described Arabs as “rag heads”.
The messages could affect at least 207 criminal cases, including three for murder, San Francisco public defender Jeff Adachi told reporters.
He said the slurs were discovered as part of a separate probe over rape accusations against Jason Lai, one of the former officers.
I apologise if I offended anybody, but the intent was not for the public to have seen these jokes
In one of the text messages Lai compares black people to “barbarians” and a “pack of wild animals on the loose.”