Colorado police officer fired for using racial slur rehired after appeal

A Colorado police officer who was fired after being caught on video using a racial slur last year will reportedly be rehired by the city commission. 

In body camera footage obtained by local ABC affiliate Denver7 in June 2017, former Aurora Police Lt. Charles DeShazer can be heard saying, “We got the Alabama porch monkeys all contained.”

{mosads}DeShazer reportedly made the remark at the scene of an officer-involved shooting and was referring to a crowd of African-Americans near the site of the shooting.

The slur was picked up by body cam and two other supervisors, according to a Facebook post shared by Chief Nick Metz on Tuesday.

“Following the investigation, I terminated Lt. DeShazer on September 1, 2017,” Metz said in the post, adding that he also demoted the officer. 

“The racially insensitive comment made by Sgt. DeShazer is in direct contradiction to the values of the Aurora Police Department,” the police chief continued.

After he was terminated from the police department, DeShazer appealed his firing to the city’s Civil Service Commission, according to Denver7.

Metz said in the post that commissioners decided to rehire DeShazer last month in a hearing while noting that he also needed “substantial discipline.”

“I respect their decision, but that doesn’t mean I have to agree with it,” Metz told Denver7, adding that it was not the decision he had hoped the commissioners would make.

“I felt the termination was the correct course of action,” Metz told KDVR. “I felt that it would send a strong message internally and externally about what our expectations are in this agency and we have set a high bar.”

Metz also said officers of all races at the Aurora Police Department were “appalled” by the officer’s racist remarks and were dissatisfied with the results form the hearing.

“I can assure the community that Sgt. DeShazer will not be in a supervisory or citizen-facing role,” Metz said in the Facebook post.