Police officer suspended for alleged slurs at FOP bar

A Philadelphia police officer was suspended recently, accused of using racial slurs at the bar of the Fraternal Order of Police lodge to describe African American colleagues, including calling a supervisor a "banana-eating monkey."

FOP president John McNesby confirmed Friday morning that Cpl. Robert Pawlowski had been suspended for 30 days and transferred from the criminal intelligence unit to the 24th District, which is in North Philadelphia and covers parts of Kensington, Port Richmond, and Juniata Park.

A police spokeswoman said she could not release details of an internal investigation. Efforts to reach Pawlowski on Friday were unsuccessful.

Pawlowski - whose brother, Officer John Pawlowski, was shot and killed by a paroled robber on Broad Street in 2009 - was accused in an Internal Affairs complaint last month of repeatedly disparaging black officers to his white colleagues at the FOP 7C Lounge on Dec. 18, 2015. The lounge is a bar at the union's headquarters in Northeast Philadelphia.

Beyond using racial slurs to describe black officers, the complaint says, Pawlowski repeatedly pulled a white officer away from his black counterparts, and pointed to his skin color to demonstrate why he believed the black officers would not like or trust him and his white peers.

That officer told Pawlowski he trusted his black partner with his life, the complaint says, and after growing tired of Pawlowski's actions, returned to his black colleagues and told them about Pawlowski's behavior.

Three of the white officers Pawlowski spoke to that night later recounted their experience to Internal Affairs, according to the complaint. None reported believing Pawlowski was intoxicated.

cpalmer@phillynews.com

215-854-2817 @cs_palmer