Three North Carolina police officers have been fired after they were recorded talking about "slaughtering" black people and using racial slurs. The conversations came to light when a sergeant was reviewing video footage from a patrol car as part of a routine audit.
The sergeant found that the camera in officer Kevin Piner's patrol car had been accidentally activated and recorded vile and shocking conversations he had with Cpl. Jessie Moore and officer James Gilmore.
Piner can be heard criticizing his department for "kneeling down with the black folks" during a conversation with Gilmore, who was sitting in a different patrol car. The two men then complained about a black officer on the force, accusing him of "sitting on his a**" during the protests.
"Let's see how his boys take care of him when s*** gets rough, see if they don't put a bullet in his head," Piner said.
About 30 minutes later, Piner received a call from Moore, in which he used racial and homophobic slurs to describe a magistrate who is black.
Later in the conversation, Piner told Moore he felt that America was heading towards a second Civil War and said he was going to buy another rifle.
"We are just going to go out and start slaughtering them," he said, using a racial slur to describe black people. "I can't wait. God, I can't wait."
The officers admitted to having the conversations but claimed they were not racist. They told investigators they were just "venting" and blamed their comments on the "stress of today's climate in law enforcement,
Wilmington Police Chief Donny Williams said he will ensure that none of the officers are eligible to be rehired the city and is asking the North Carolina Criminal Justice Training and Standards Commission to review the officers' certification.
He did not rule out filing criminal charges against the three officers and has asked the department to conduct a review to determine if any of them had shown bias in the past.
"There are certain behaviors that one must have in order to be a police officer, and these three officers have demonstrated that they do not possess it," Williams said. "When I first learned of these conversations, I was shocked, saddened, and disgusted. There is no place for this behavior in our agency or our city, and it will not be tolerated."
Photo: Getty Images