Colin Kaepernick has been a free agent since March.
(Scott Cunningham/Getty Images)
Backlash over a campus cop’s Colin Kaepernick costume has led his chief to issue an apology. The University of Nevada, Reno Police Chief Adam Garcia issued the statement after social media erupted over Antonio Gutierrez’s portrayal of the free agent quarterback.
Gutierrez spurred a firestorm when he posed with a costumed woman in an Afro wig, homemade San Francisco 49ers jersey, hooked nose and a cardboard sign that read, “Will stand for food.”
Kaepernick began sitting and then kneeling during the national anthem during the 2016 NFL season to protest police brutality.
hey @unevadareno! one of your officers, Antonio Gutierrez, decided to go as a racist portrayal of #Kaep last night. this isn't ok!! pic.twitter.com/eCnYFcauxn
— 💫give people money & defund the police #BLM (@glaserface) October 29, 2017
“For those who have seen the Halloween costume of one of our officers apparently mocking a citizen who has chosen to take advantage of his constitutional right to protest, I offer my sincere apologies,” Garcia said in a Sunday, Oct. 29 statement obtained by News4-Fox 11 “Members of our profession are held to a higher standard and denigrating — on or off duty — is insensitive for its lack of respect and lack of understanding on how others may negatively view their actions and may be impacted.”
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The chief, who also addressed the feeling of unease on campus in the wake of a police officer’s comment to a Black graduate student in September that he’s “just going to shoot him if this goes sideways,” did not confirm or deny the cop in question was Gutierrez.
However, UNR spokeswoman Kerri Garcia told the Reno Gazette Journal there is “no policy that would dictate any disciplinary action” despite how “insensitive and inappropriate” the situation is.
Gutierrez’s costume came after a Friday, Oct. 27 student and community rally in support of Kaepernick.
