A former Houston police officer is apologizing after unleashing a barrage of racist insults online, but no one seems to be buying it.
Ashley Gonzalez posted the 2-minute-long tirade against “Black people” from inside her car, where she used about 25 racial slurs.
The Houston Police Department announced Friday that it had terminated Gonzalez due to the video.
“HPD holds every officer to the highest standards of integrity and conduct, and will not waver in upholding these expectations,” the department said in a statement.
In a new video posted Friday, seemingly after she was fired, Gonzalez apologized, justifying her actions.
“I think the reason why I posted them is that I think there are some insecurities in me or self-hate or something,” she said. “I’ve learned that I can’t let those things take over because it’s not okay and it’s pretty nasty, and I just feel really bad.”
She confirmed she would not be returning to work after the incident.
“The behavior exhibited by Ashley Gonzalez was abhorrent, disgusting, and entirely unacceptable,” Chief J. Noe Diaz, Jr. said on X. “It is deeply disturbing and has no place in law enforcement or in our community.”
“It’s just so toxic, and I’m just so sorry about that,” she said in her video. “I think I just need to go to therapy. I think I need to go to church.”
It appears Gonzalez has deleted the video and her main social media accounts.
“I just feel pretty bad that I GOT CAUGHT,” Marvin Stanback commented on the video on Facebook.
“As a Black woman, it’s hard to trust the apology after she was exposed. As a Christian woman, I will pray that she learns something from all of this. When I was younger, I would have all the names to call her, but how can we ask God for forgiveness if we ourselves can not forgive?” Alisha Knox added.
In the original video, Gonzalez referred to Black people as “chimps” and dropped the N-word multiple times.
“You all don’t know how good it felt to say ‘n—er’ out loud,” she said in the video, describing an incident where she suspected a Black youth of wanting to steal her purse while she was in a restaurant with her friend.
“Like god damn, n—a, oh my god, I felt like I was back in the Marine Corps, N—a.”
Police1 reports that Gonzalez served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 2019 to 2023.
“I had my f_cking wallet next to me, my whole purse, and that little f_cking small a– chimp decided not to f_cking steal my wallet,” she said.
But the video that has been posted may have been edited down, so it’s possible the Black youth attempted to steal from her friend, not that it justifies using racial slurs against him.
“I don’t know what came over me, but I grabbed that n_gga by the neck and said, ‘Come here, you f—ing n—er.”
“And oh my god, I felt like the world just stopped. Like it was just peace.”
Houston Mayor John Whitmire told FOX 26 he was deeply disappointed to hear about the incident.
“Let me be clear: this behavior is unacceptable. I applaud HPD Chief Diaz for suspending Gonzalez when the department became aware of the video and firing her as soon as the state service process allowed,” Whitmire said. “Let this incident serve as a warning to all City of Houston employees. There is zero tolerance for racism in my administration, and if you see it, report it immediately.”
“I ask all Houstonians to rededicate ourselves to human rights and respect for others.”
Atlanta Black Star has reached out to the Houston Police Department for more details, including her personnel records and any prior disciplinary action against her, but they have not yet responded to our request.
