Three judges will review thousands of cases handled by 14 San Francisco police officers who exchanged racist and homophobic text messages, prosecutors announced Thursday.
San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon.
Eric Risberg / AP
Racist and homophobic text messages exchanged by 14 San Francisco police officers has sparked a wide review of more than 3,000 arrests they were involved in, officials announced Thursday.
Three retired judges will determine if any of the arrests were improper, or if the cases led to wrongful convictions after a slew of text messages were uncovered by federal investigators.
The review will go back about 10 years.
San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon announced Thursday that the panel will also investigate if there is a "culture of bias" within the San Francisco Police Department.
"The actions of a few have undermined the public's faith in the police officers who are sworn to protect us," Garcon said in a written statement. "Our criminal justice system must be free of bias in order to truly serve and protect all members of our community."
According to court documents, former San Francisco police officer Ian Furminger referred to his wife's black friends in text messages with racial slurs — "Cross burning lowers blood pressure!" one text stated — and when another officer told him about the promotion of a black officer in the department, he responded: "Fuckin n***er."
Furminger was sentenced to more than three years in federal prison earlier this year after he and other officers were accused of taking money and property from drug dealers, and keeping the loot for themselves.
After his conviction, Furminger asked the federal judge to release him on bail while he appealed the decision, but the U.S. Attorney's Office opposed the request, stating that he failed to acknowledge that he is "a virulent racist and homophobe who, even while a police officer, felt free to share his views with other individuals, including San Francisco police officers."
Prosecutors included a sampling of text messages discovered during the investigation:
When asked "Do you celebrate quanza [sic] at your school?" Furminger responded, "Yeah we burn the cross on the field! Then we celebrate Whitemas."
And when the sergeant received a text message saying, "N****rs should be spayed," Furminger wrote back, "Ask my 6 year old what he thinks about Obama."
The texts were also exchanged with other San Francisco Police officers, according to federal court documents. They were not identified by the district attorney's office or in court documents.
In one, Furminger told an officer his wife's friend was at his home and, "her husband is black! If [sic] is an Attorney but should I be worried?"
The officer, who is not identified in the documents, told Furminger, "Get ur pocket gun. Keep it available in case the monkey returns to his roots. Its [sic] not against the law to put an animal down."
from BuzzFeed - USNews http://ift.tt/1zPtdmF
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