The Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office has announced it will conduct a review of 370 cases involving a retired LAPD detective after he was seen on video hurling racial slurs at a young Black man.
The retired detective who has not been identified, used multiple racial insults in an argument with a Black man following a minor traffic collision in Valencia last week.
“The video in question is truly disturbing, particularly because it involves a former homicide detective who is showing racist tendencies,” Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón said. “My office is taking immediate action and has already identified a number of cases in which this retired detective was a witness. We are currently in the process of notifying the defense attorneys in such cases.”
Footage of the argument was posted to social media Monday and shows the former homicide detective standing on the side of the road engaging in the verbal altercation. The video has been viewed over one million times.
“Oh, you can say n-gger but I can’t?” the retired detective questioned. A white woman with the former detective told the Black man, “go back to your car.”
As the man turned away, the retired detective said, “Go back to your cage until the monkey controller gets here.”
Later in the video the ex-detective called the man a “dumb n-gger.”
He added, “Yeah I said it, second, right after you.”
After the video was shared widely on social media, the LAPD released a statement through its Twitter account, saying the man was not a current member of the department but had retired in May 2020.
“To ensure there is no current Department nexus to this incident, there has been an internal investigation started,” the statement said.
The LAPD will cooperate with the district attorney’s office as it reviews 370 cases handled by the detective. Gascón said the office currently contacting defense attorneys associated with the cases.
Uriel Barraza, who filmed the altercation, told ABC7 he started filming when he saw the conflict escalate.
“So, I started recording after that and that’s when I got him saying that racist thing, him in a cage,” Barraza said. “And I was all, ‘That isn’t right.'” He said both of the men used the N-word during the encounter.
Gascón said the district attorney’s office is required to act in situations like this.
“Under the law we are required — once we become aware of someone having racist tendencies — we have to notify the defense lawyers in all the cases that this individual may have been a witness or participated in the investigation,” he said.
LAPD Chief Michael Moore condemned the former detective’s comments but said there was little the LAPD could do in terms of disciplinary action, since he is no longer with the department.
