A Tennessee law enforcement officer was suspended without pay after a video of him hurling racial slurs from a vehicle made its rounds across social media.
In a statement on Monday, Sept. 6, Monroe County Sheriff Tommy Jones identified Deputy Bill Littleton, who is white, as the man in the TikTok video clip yelling “f-cking n-ggers” out of the window while seated in the back seat of a car while a woman who appears to be recording from the front seat chuckles.
Jones says he was “highly appalled by the language, language that is not supported by the Monroe County Sheriff’s Department, and it will not be tolerated.”
“I want to maintain the trust of Monroe County, we do take this very seriously, we will do everything to change this behavior and to do our due diligence,” Jones added, assuring the media that the matter was being handled with severity.
Shortly after, the sheriff told WBIR-TV that he spoke with Littleton after being made aware of the recording. He says the officer admitted to being the individual in the clip yelling the expletives.
Littleton will not be fired. However, the disciplinary actions taken against him reportedly include, a 30-day unpaid suspension and probation for a year, with termination for any further violation of any department policy during that period.
In addition, Littleton will have to complete racial sensitivity training through the county’s human resources department, and he will no longer be considered for sergeant promotions.
The clip caused outrage on social media, with some people even requesting that Littleton not be reinstated.
One person who shared the video tweeted, “Peep the open container in the back also. With his racist hatred towards black people. All he got was a slap on the hand. Why not weed out this cancer?” Another added, “This person is not law enforcement material. Should not be reinstated!!!”
Another Twitter user criticized the department’s handling of the incident, stating, “They can suspend him but they can’t exorcise the crap in him that made him do this. He’ll back under authority of his badge to deal with Black people.. and inside him will still be the hate that made him do this shit.” They added, “He is psychologically unfit for a Police job.”
It’s unclear when the video was shot.
