A Chicago police officer yells homophobic insults after a traffic cone was thrown at him during a police brutality protest, a shocking video event.
The footage, posted on May 30 on Instagram, shows an unidentified Chicago policeman wearing riot clothing carrying a stop sign and batons while heading to a police car.
Someone in protest then threw traffic cones and barricades towards the police when his back was turned, prompting him to erupt, the 30-second video clip showed.
“Wait until I turn my back, you f-king f – t,” the police shouted, surprising several people nearby, including people who called the officer “racist” and “homophobic s-t,” according to the video.
Chicago police on Saturday confirm an investigation into the incident ongoing, said in a statement that the department “tried to treat all individuals” its officers met with respect.
“Every act of humiliation is unforgivable and has no place in the department,” police said. “We do not tolerate this kind of behavior, which is why we have opened an investigation into this incident and will immediately take appropriate disciplinary action when we try to identify the officers involved.”
It is not clear whether the police in the clip were identified on Monday morning. A message asking for comments from the Chicago police was not immediately returned.
Meanwhile, the user who posted the tape said another policeman stood nearby and did nothing after the officer was angry when assigned to protest on Grand Avenue and State Street after the death of police prisoner George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25.
“We walked away from their ranks peacefully and this policeman attacked / chased the protesters with a stop sign that he dragged (before the cone flew),” the post wrote. “The other police watched him and did nothing.”
Saturday’s statement from the police came after the city’s Civil Police Accountability Office recommended that the office involved be identified and suspended during the investigation, Chicago Tribune reports.
Officials from Equality Illinois also demanded that the officer be immediately withdrawn from the streets, saying police brutality against strange and trans-African Americans was intolerable, the newspaper reported.
“But we want to add, strictly speaking, there is no place for homophobia among those tasked with protecting our city,” the advocacy group told Tribune. “This officer must be removed from duty.”
