Philadelphia police officer allegedly caught using racial slurs in video is under investigation, commissioner says
Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said she ordered an Internal Affairs investigation into the incident. The officer has been placed on restricted duty pending the outcome of the probe.
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A Philadelphia police officer is under an internal investigation after he was allegedly caught on video twice saying a racial slur during an attempted arrest of a person who had a gun, Commissioner Danielle Outlaw announced Friday afternoon.
“The conduct displayed by the officers [present] is highly concerning, and I have ordered an Internal Affairs Investigation into the incident. All of the officers have been identified, and the primary officer has been placed on restricted duty pending the outcome of the investigation,” Outlaw said in a statement.
Outlaw said the person who was subsequently arrested was found to be in possession of a handgun. That person was not identified. The officers involved also were not named.
A police spokesperson said the department has bodycam video of the incident.
A version of the video was posted overnight on an Instagram account called “phillyspotnews,” which has 134,000 followers and appears to be associated with a local attorney.
It is unclear who recorded the video or precisely when or where it was recorded, but the Instagram post says that it occurred in the city’s Germantown section.
The video, which was recorded at night, shows a police officer with his gun drawn and pointed at the driver-side window of a parked SUV near a commercial intersection. At least two other officers can be seen shining flashlights into the vehicle.
The main officer yells several times at the driver that he can see a gun inside the vehicle and orders the driver to open the door. The driver does not comply.
The officer appears to say a racial slur twice, according to the audio portion of the video.
This prompts some onlookers to start yelling at the officer because of what he allegedly said. The officer puts his gun away and takes out a baton and smashes the driver-side window. The officer appears to fire a Taser into the vehicle, which then lurches forward into a parked police car. The video ends.
The person who runs the Instagram account could not be reached for comment.