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African American
Related: About this forumOfficer quits after confronting black man picking up trash
Source: Associated Press
Officer quits after confronting black man picking up trash
By KATHLEEN FOODY
May 16, 2019
DENVER (AP) — A white Colorado police officer who confronted a black man picking up trash around his dormitory resigned this week under an agreement that lets him collect $69,000 in salary despite violating department policies.
Body camera footage released Thursday provided a full video account of the tense encounter, which gained national attention based on video shot by someone inside the building. That footage only showed Zayd Atkinson holding a bucket and a tool for picking up trash as police officers surrounded him outside the dormitory for students at Naropa University, a liberal arts school associated with Buddhism.
An attorney for Atkinson called the agreement with the city of Boulder “ridiculous.”
“Boulder is essentially saying we’re going to pay this officer and let him resign for threatening Zayd’s life, for racially profiling Zayd,” attorney Siddhartha Rathod said. “If you or I were to do this, we would be criminally charged. We would immediately lose our jobs.”
In a statement, City Attorney Tom Carr said firing the officer, John Smyly, would have led to a drawn-out appeal and potentially allowed him to keep his job.
-snip-
By KATHLEEN FOODY
May 16, 2019
DENVER (AP) — A white Colorado police officer who confronted a black man picking up trash around his dormitory resigned this week under an agreement that lets him collect $69,000 in salary despite violating department policies.
Body camera footage released Thursday provided a full video account of the tense encounter, which gained national attention based on video shot by someone inside the building. That footage only showed Zayd Atkinson holding a bucket and a tool for picking up trash as police officers surrounded him outside the dormitory for students at Naropa University, a liberal arts school associated with Buddhism.
An attorney for Atkinson called the agreement with the city of Boulder “ridiculous.”
“Boulder is essentially saying we’re going to pay this officer and let him resign for threatening Zayd’s life, for racially profiling Zayd,” attorney Siddhartha Rathod said. “If you or I were to do this, we would be criminally charged. We would immediately lose our jobs.”
In a statement, City Attorney Tom Carr said firing the officer, John Smyly, would have led to a drawn-out appeal and potentially allowed him to keep his job.
-snip-
Read more: https://apnews.com/1c1ff411b5924e15a689784d78ef4f99
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Officer quits after confronting black man picking up trash (Original Post)
Eugene
May 2019
OP
sheshe2
(88,471 posts)1. The trash that needs be disposed of are the white officers.
Disposed of and without pay.
rusty quoin
(6,133 posts)2. Oh yeah, there was no racial profiling there. OMG.
The Polack MSgt
(13,462 posts)3. Paid to stay home until February
And then a lump sum payment for accrued vacation and sick leave.
I got a 20 that says he'll be hired as a deputy or other LEO before the last paycheck hits his bank
MrScorpio
(73,718 posts)4. Police are a protected class in America
Everyone should know that by now.
Odoreida
(1,549 posts)5. Under an agreement that lets him collect $69,000 in salary despite violating department policies???
It occurs to me that perhaps the officer did it for precisely this reason.