On Monday, WECT News reported that a second video has been made public of a Wilmington, North Carolina police officer who was terminated two years ago after dashboard camera footage showed him and two other officers making racist comments.
“The videos came to light in June 2020, when tensions between police and the public reached a boiling point following the murder of George Floyd, a Black man, in Minneapolis by a white police officer,” reported Michael Praats. “Some of the statements made by some of the officers in the initial recordings included saying a magistrate judge needed a ‘bullet in her head right then and move on,’ and advocating for a ‘civil war to wipe ‘em off the [expletive] map.’”
Court documents revealed that in the second recording, taken on May 31 of that year, “Petitioner’s reference to WPD Sergeant (now Lieutenant) [name withheld] as a ‘thing,’ and Petitioner’s response and apparent agreement with Piner’s statement that ‘She’s dumb as a box of rocks.’”
The three police involved were Officer James Gilmore, Cpl. Jesse Moore II, and Officer Kevin Piner, all of whom were fired after the release of the first tape. However, Gilmore attempted to appeal to be reinstated, claiming that the comments on the tape were protected religious beliefs rather than racism. “The Holy Bible teaches that no one should bow down before another human being or idol and worship them,” Gilmore explained in his appeal letter in 2020. “This conversation was about the Black Lives Matter protesters and was not racially motivated but expressed my personal opinions, based on my religious beliefs.”
In recent months, several more police officers have been terminated over revelations about bad conduct.
In January alone, a St. Petersburg, Florida officer was terminated after video showed him tasing a disabled Black man who had been lying on the ground after being removed from his wheelchair, and a Dallas, Texas officer was fired for repeatedly punching a man after trying to break up a fight outside a bar — and being restrained by several of his fellow officers.